And me without my armbands....

Somebody explain to me why a terrorist should be treated like a soldier fighting in uniform for his country. Terrorists are animals. Treat them as such.

And before it gets posted, spare me the "we don't want them to abuse American prisoners" excuse. They haven't treated American prisoners well and they never fucking will.

 

What makes you think the people they throw in front of these kangaroo courts are necessarily terrorists? Several people they had locked up in Gitmo for years and years were just guys who were named as terrorists so some Afghani shithead could collect the reward for ratting on him. They weren't terrorists at all.

 

Lou, I hate to burst your bubble but some of the most vociferous opponents to Bush's desire for all encompassing dictatorial powers is coming, not from the left, but from members or ex-members of the military, by and large a fairly conservative group. It's not the bleeding hearts who are demanding the U.S. obey the international rule of law.

Sorry, but ending torture and degradation of prisoners at secret and not so secret POW camps is "tying the military's hands"?  Next thing you'll be saying is that the atrocities at Guantánamo were just "fraternity pranks".

 

Let's try this again. When capturing an armed combatant on the battlefield who isn't in uniform and isn't fighting for a country he's a terrorist. Treat him as such. If you're shooting at me you're sure as fuck not an innocent bystander.

Does that help?

 

JR - can you document any atrocities by the US military at Guantanamo?

Seriously.

 

OK, so all the competent military authorities who believe that very thing don't count?
Fine. Why should we start now listening to people who know what they're talking about.
The cakewalk should start any day now.

And, again, this new little bit of heaven isn't just about terrorists, or soldiers fighting in uniform for their country -- which, by the way, a number of people we scooped up in Afghanistan actually were -- this is about the government's ability to grab anyone, anywhere, for reasons it makes up as it goes along, and then disappear that person into a system without legal recourse. Fairly well the living definition of authoritarian, at least as defined by all the principles that make this country Not Argentina.

 

What makes you think that these trials will be reserved for armed combatants? How about if one of our friendly militia folks says Mohammad in the house on the next block planted a roadside bomb? And we've got nothing but the dude's word?

 

Well they are throwing feces, urine and other bodily fluids at the prisoners.

Oh wait, I had that backwards. The prisoners are throwing that stuff at the guards. My mistake.

 

OK, let me try to make this clear.

The laws we have set in this country aren't simply to protect the regular person. They're also in place to protect the people upholding those laws.

When we arrest someone who is suspected of a crime, we have a process that we undergo that ensures we learn whether or not that person is actually guilty of said crime before we start dishing out punishment. That process protects everyone involved -- the accused and the accusers.

If we don't follow that process or we attempt to altogether circumvent it, not only might we be harming someone unjustly, we are shaming ourselves in the process. We are allowing this group of "animals" to sucker is into stooping to their level. And I don't care what good comes of it, I don't want to be on their level.

 

That's alll well and good but the domestic criminal justice system has absolutely nothing to do with dispensing justice in a theater of war.

 

How aobut taking an innocent man away from his family for four years, locking him away in Cuba and denying him a lawyer or a trial or anything? That not atrocious?

 

Yes.
But since it's been thoroughly documented, I'm sure you can find it yourself.