The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
The left's myth of Guantanamo Bay is finally dying. My former Department of Justice colleague, Robert Delahunty, and I published a piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday explaining why Congress cut off the funding for any efforts to shut down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay or to transfer any al Qaeda prisoners there to American territory. The most important reason: an intelligence community report that one in every four detainees released from Gitmo has returned to the fight against us. Unfortunately, freezing the status quo does not stop the distortions in the Obama approach to terrorism -- relying on drone warfare and civilian trials -- which has the effect of killing more innocents, losing intelligence, and burdening our fighting men and women in the field.
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Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
Your explanation suggests that Congress cut off funding for efforts to close the facility at Guantanamo for noble reasons. This is in contrast to The Hill which ran an article this weekend (featured on Drudge) explaining the move as an act of defiance and demonstration against Obama resulting from the anger over the tax deal. Do you think there's any truth to this explanation, or is it simply sensationalist (and cynical) reporting?
Jun '10
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
I've also read, many Guantanamo detainees don't want to be released. What do they have to look forward to at home? Often, just life in a much more uncomfortable and dangerous prison.
Edited on December 12, 2010 at 6:41pmDec '10
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
Obama campaigned on the idea that America's 'shameful' and 'egregious' treatment of Gitmo detainees was harming our national security by motivating jihad. And in office, he's been so terrified of capturing more combatants and making them detainees that he's adopted the very strategy he denounced in his campaign of "just bombing villages" - as though Predator strikes don't enrage the same people he thinks Gitmo so enrages. That is a special kind of cowardice, breathtaking to see in a Commander-in-Chief.
Dec '10
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
I think that should read, "The left's myth of Guantanamo Bay should finally be dying."
In the real world, these things never die, no matter how many stakes you drive through them. I have lots of liberal friends in the San Francisco area, and I can confidently tell you that:
And on and on.
Any narrative that is useful to the left never dies, no matter how ridiculous it looks in retrospect. I predict that we'll be hearing about the evil that is Gitmo for at least the next decade.
May '10
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
Does anyone know what the Allies did with German POWs after WW2? I wonder if a comparative examination of detainee techniques is possible here. I gather that German POWs were less suicidal than our guests at Gitmo and there are obviously other differences. But nevertheless...
"Gitmo alumni." Very clever.
Edited on December 12, 2010 at 8:20pmNov '10
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
John,
Here's a question perhaps you can answer. The rules of war allow combatants to be held indefinitely. does that mean that the detainees can be expected to be held until they die? It doesn't seem we will ever be rid of Islamic terrorism (or any other for that matter), so can we expect the numbers to grow? Certainly not under this Administration, but the next may well be Republican. Do the US have a long term strategy in place?
Edited on December 12, 2010 at 9:19pmMay '10
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
I'm ambivalent about the drone strikes. Ultimately it seems a successful bid by Obama to kill our enemies in a way his base won't complain about, and as such it may be better than not doing them.
But it seems clear that his base should be picketing the White House every day over this action that is much more morally troubling than water-boarding. Out and out killing targets that we can at best hope are the actual targets -- and anyone who happens to be near them -- seems beyond the pale compared to a form of torture that journalists have regularly chosen to undertake voluntarily.
Nov '10
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
Maurilius:
But it seems clear that his base should be picketing the White House every day over this action that is much more morally troubling than water-boarding. · Dec 12 at 12:38pm
That's a good point. But you know, if Obama does it, it is likely a necessary, if undesirable action. He is so much more a man of the world than Bush was, and therefore is better able to make these kinds of decisions.
Jul '10
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
Starve the Beast
I think that should read, "The left's myth of Guantanamo Bay should finally be dying."
...
Any narrative that is useful to the left never dies, no matter how ridiculous it looks in retrospect. I predict that we'll be hearing about the evil that is Gitmo for at least the next decade. · Dec 12 at 9:57am
The narrative will change, actually, almost without missing a beat, if a new narrative works better, and the new narrative then was always the narrative.
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
That's an interesting angle. My guess is that this is more than Democratic Congress anger at Obama. If the Democratic Congress is generally more liberal than Obama, and the leadership and caucus that remains after the midterm elections are too, then they would have shown their unhappiness by moving to the left. What they should have done if they were so mad is close Gitmo immediately, cut off funding for military commissions, and buy that old prison in Illinois to house the terrorists.
Re: The Death of the Guantanamo Myth
The perspective of those of us who are critical of Gitmo would be better understood if its defenders acknowledged that many innocent people were held there for years on end.