The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

Streetcar Line

(Page 2 of 2)

Of course not. In effect, those POWs, often conscripts doing their nation's bidding in formal warfare, were afforded fewer "rights" than are these terrorist detainees who fight of their own volition, under no nation's flag, and recognize no Geneva Conventions or any other of the ordinary "rules" of war. It is bizarre, from this vantage point, to treat these terrorist versions of POWs as if they merit the same protections provided to ordinary soldiers, much less any of the privileges given to American citizens charged with criminal activity.

AMERICANS GENERALLY BELIEVE in an ethic that requires all human beings to be treated, yes, humanely. What I saw at Guantanamo Bay convinced me that we do so with these terrorists. That is more, of course, than they would do for us. What they would do to us, of course, is to kill us all, adults and innocent children alike, as infidels. In this light, Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay is not a mark of dishonor on the American nation, but a badge of great honor. Under difficult circumstances, our men and women in uniform there protect our nation and serve the cause of humanity as well.

I close with a public quote from another member of the European Parliament, one James Elles: "My impression is that the camp is run with the utmost professionalism and the conditions under which detainees are being held are clean and humane, and follow the spirit of the Geneva Conventions. I was very grateful for the opportunity to see for myself that the reality of Guantanamo is very different from the largely negative portrait given by the press on our side of the Atlantic. Until the issue of what happens to detainees is resolved, the closing of Guantanamo could make the war on terrorism more difficult and ultimately more dangerous for our citizens."

topics:
Law, Military, Iraq, Oil