Crimes, War Crimes and the War on Terror

[Schmedlap]

This war (if that is what it is) is already as long as WWII as far as I can see very few of those interned have any kind of evidence against them that could stand up in a court of law. Most seem to have just been released despite serving hundreds of man/years between them.

And among those released, several returned to the field of battle and were captured yet again or detonated themselves and killed many innocent civilians. On the other hand, some just returned to a normal life. And that is why this is not such a clear issue regarding humane treatment of detainees. We've taken tens of thousands of detainees in Iraq/Afghanistan, yet less than one-thousand are at Gitmo and several thousand of the rest have been released. This information does not lead me to the suspicion that we're spending millions of dollars on the Gitmo detainees just to satisfy someone's desire to oppress or torture. I have the suspicion that we are incurring this expense and this loss of political capital for some legitimate reason, rather than for the sake of watching the President's approval ratings plummet. I suspect that our government is speaking truthfully when it says that there is good reason to believe that these folks are extremely dangerous. Hence, I do not lose much sleep at night over the thought that some Gitmo detainees are uncomfortable because their thermostat is at 66 instead of 68 and their eggs were served over easy instead of sunny side up.

This is very understandable given the circumstances at the time, but also very wrong.

That is why much of this falls into the category of "moral dilemma" - there is no correct answer.

As you may have gathered I am not inclined to give the authorities the benefit of the doubt and am much more frightened of tyrannical governments than terrorists.

This may be one of the areas in which representative democracy works best. Lots of people like you will clamor for action from one side of the issue. Lots of people from the other end will clamor for action on their side. This continual back and forth helps to provide corrective adjustments to the actions of the government that you fear, as it deals with the terrorists whom others fear.