“They are smart, they are creative, they are committed,” Admiral Harris said. “They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.” NY Times, June 16, 2006, after it was reported that three detainees at the Guantanamo camp had committed suicide. They had hanged themselves.
You should know that the safety and security of your nation is in the hands of at least a few individuals who think like this Admiral Harris. The prisoners in Guantanamo are held without regard for any law governing the treatment of either prisoners of war or suspects of a criminal investigation. President Bush claims he has the right to hold them for as long as he feels like holding them. Can you tell that he is on the side of freedom and democracy?
Those clever detainees! Committing suicide just to make it look like they are being mistreated!
And it is apparent just how much a victory Bush gives Islamic extremism when he pays it the highest honor imaginable: fear wildly in excess of any reasonable probability of harm.
But I doubt American citizens deserve any better any more. They appear to have acquiesced on the issue of human rights. Just keep us safe from suicide bombers in South Holland and Grand Rapids and Iowa City and all those other places that we just know they would attack if it were not for things like Guantanamo Bay prison.
For comparison’s sake, rent a copy of “Dr. Strangelove” and look for the pep talk General Ripper gives to his men just before he seals the base. He warns them that the Communist has no regard for human life, including his own, and that Communist invaders may look or sound like Americans.
Don’t worry. This film will be really funny again in about 10 years.