Guantanamo: A ‘False Choice Between Our Safety and Our Ideals’?
If the ‘unlawful combatants’ are truly men who attacked US troops, then no doubt, they should have a trial, show evidence, and be convicted. The problem is that many people who have been detained are not part of any terrorist group. Abu Graib showed that, they were rounding up any men from 10 to 50. Many are victims of our strategy in Afghanistan to pay bounties for the capture of or information leading to the capture of al-qaeda members. People were being turned over for reasons as simple as some people didn’t want to pay a debt, so they would call their debtor an al-qaeda sympathizer. Once a non-combatant has been termed an ‘unlawful combatant’ the ‘interrogations’ can begin. I don’t think anyone can be innocently locked up and then tortured physically and mentally and not harbor hatred for those who held them captive. If all the detainees were actually combatants then sure, they should be detained, but this is not the case. The original strategies are what needs to be looked at in order to stop the dumb questions that have to be answered later.
