Followers

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Closing Gitmo

President Obama has now fulfilled a campaign pledge by issuing an order to close the facility at Gitmo.

Politically, this is a very good move. One problem that I have is that we will have to place these people somewhere else. It would be a serious mistake if we contain them within the jail system. This is a very good breeding ground for rebellion in all cultures. One problem here is that these inmates are not common criminals.

We are not speaking the same culture. Taking these people and placing them into our criminal system would be comparable to taking Japanese soldiers during World War II and trying them for crimes. Setting aside all of the obvious differences, (Like wearing a uniform) changing the ideology of the men that made up the fighting forces would have been very close to impossible. If anything, they would be given opportunity to tell their story and convert others who are hostile to our own culture.

The obstacle of what to do with prisoners can and will be settled in a similar way. They will die fighting. ‘A good Jap is a dead Jap’ was a saying that resulted from fighting this mentality. We can expect our soldiers to act in this way. And the real crime will be that this will today be considered a crime! And we will then be forced to enforce this against our own men! This can only undermine the war effort, despite all of the political gain that it will obtain.

No comments:

Post a Comment