Obama’s executive order to close Guantanamo in a year probably needed to be issued and he was wise not to close it right away, giving himself a year to come up with a plan for what to do with some of the more dangerous detainees currently held there. The prison at Gitmo could still have viable use in the application of our national security as long as that use doesn’t involve torture. When someone is being tortured they will do or say whatever they think the torturer wants to hear if they think it will cause the torture to stop. Consequently torture is not a reliable method for getting good intelligence from detainees. There are much better methods to get reliable information.
It is good that Obama has his sights set on doing the right thing. America’s foreign policy has not been administered well in the last few decades. We have backed dictators who themselves had total disregard for human rights in their own countries just so we can have allies in strategic places. We have also trained some who have later become our enemies. In doing this we have completely lost track of what is right and what is wrong by American standards. So closing Gitmo would seem to be a step in the right direction.
Still, after decades of having a foreign policy that was either aimed at having allies in certain parts of the world or at providing us with oil or other natural resources as a result of our backing any given nation’s government—we cannot expect to simply straighten the tangled mess we have created with such policies by doing an about face and abruptly deciding to do the right thing. Sudden changes, however right they may be could have drastic consequences. Most of us know what the right thing to do is, by American standards.
We should only be backing movements toward democracy in our foreign relations with other nations. One mistake we have consistently made is that we expect that all democracies should and would take form as the American clone. This is absurd. Democracy takes the shape and personality of the population which embraces it. Our government didn’t start off perfect or great and we should not be surprised to see other fledgling democracies get off to a jagged start. It is folly to expect a democracy in, say, Iraq, to take the same basic fundamental shape as our own. Iraqis have different values, different expectations of themselves and different goals in life than Americans do. Their definition of the difference between right and wrong isn’t even close to ours.
So after backing the Shah of Iran and Noriega of Panama, why do we expect the world to take us seriously when we berate China for human rights abuses? Nevertheless, putting the United States back on the world map as a champion of human rights and what is right over what is wrong is one of the tasks that Obama wants to do. One question is: How do we do that while fighting a war against terrorism sponsored by radical Islam? Do we need places like Gitmo to accomplish all of this? Did the previous administration simply decide to take short cuts in order to provide a winning solution to our war against terrorism? Is this a cut and dried issue? Is the line visible, or is there a large gray area where the difference between right and wrong is not so clear?
It is good that Obama has his sights set on doing the right thing. America’s foreign policy has not been administered well in the last few decades. We have backed dictators who themselves had total disregard for human rights in their own countries just so we can have allies in strategic places. We have also trained some who have later become our enemies. In doing this we have completely lost track of what is right and what is wrong by American standards. So closing Gitmo would seem to be a step in the right direction.
Still, after decades of having a foreign policy that was either aimed at having allies in certain parts of the world or at providing us with oil or other natural resources as a result of our backing any given nation’s government—we cannot expect to simply straighten the tangled mess we have created with such policies by doing an about face and abruptly deciding to do the right thing. Sudden changes, however right they may be could have drastic consequences. Most of us know what the right thing to do is, by American standards.
We should only be backing movements toward democracy in our foreign relations with other nations. One mistake we have consistently made is that we expect that all democracies should and would take form as the American clone. This is absurd. Democracy takes the shape and personality of the population which embraces it. Our government didn’t start off perfect or great and we should not be surprised to see other fledgling democracies get off to a jagged start. It is folly to expect a democracy in, say, Iraq, to take the same basic fundamental shape as our own. Iraqis have different values, different expectations of themselves and different goals in life than Americans do. Their definition of the difference between right and wrong isn’t even close to ours.
So after backing the Shah of Iran and Noriega of Panama, why do we expect the world to take us seriously when we berate China for human rights abuses? Nevertheless, putting the United States back on the world map as a champion of human rights and what is right over what is wrong is one of the tasks that Obama wants to do. One question is: How do we do that while fighting a war against terrorism sponsored by radical Islam? Do we need places like Gitmo to accomplish all of this? Did the previous administration simply decide to take short cuts in order to provide a winning solution to our war against terrorism? Is this a cut and dried issue? Is the line visible, or is there a large gray area where the difference between right and wrong is not so clear?
It is clear that Obama knows this is a complicated issue at best. Placing a one year deadline on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay makes a lot of sense, no matter how badly many people believe it should be closed immediately. Stopping torture as a method of obtaining information is the right thing to do, but what should be done about the prisoners, many of whom are the most dangerous people alive today? Whatever we do about all of this we must stay focused about winning this war. (Not the war in Iraq, but the war on terrorism.) However this is handled we must not jeopardize our national security. We have not been revisited by another terrorist attack on American soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks. It is no accident that this is the case.
This security must continue and even get better in spite of the fact that we are closing down Gitmo. Is it doable? Yes. Can it be done without stripping us of our liberties? Yes. Will radical Islam use our liberties and freedoms against us? They have already demonstrated that they will. These are solid challenges and will test our focus as a nation. Our resolve is important here, for we cannot accomplish this shift to doing what is right in spite of our needs unless we stay resolute.
The new administration is determined to close a war inspired prison that holds many prisoners of war. Where will they go? Will they be released back to their home country? There is some evidence that those released from detention previously have come back to wreak havoc and terrorize all over again.
ReplyDeleteI am a supporter of releasing them back into the general prison population of the U.S. I don't care which one, just mix them up with all of the other murderers and killers. Then, let the natural selection process run it's course. Some may live and some may die, but at least they were given the choice to fight or not. Not the cowards way by bombing innocent citizens.
Those on the left may think that this is cruel. What about those innocent people in New York that had no choice? What about their rights? How about we release these terrorists in the neighborhoods inhabited by the left that want to set them free? I'll bet we hear screams from them like," not in my neighborhood". You Lefties better be careful, you might get what you are asking for, because you are on their list too....