Post-Gazette Editorial – 12/21/06

This page was last updated on December 21, 2006.

Security threat: Not every Guantanamo detainee was a terrorist; Editorial; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; December 21, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“If ever a symbol existed of the Bush administration’s muscle-bound ineptness and misdirection in the war on terror, it is the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Set up for ‘enemy combatants’ -- a classification that deliberately sought to deny the detainees the usual rights of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention -- it was intended as a place that accountability forgot.”

[RWC] The PG and its fellow travelers like to ignore the fact that combatants have to adhere to certain rules to qualify as “prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.” Among those requirements is wearing a uniform, which terrorists don’t do.

Regarding the assertion that we “deliberately sought to deny the detainees the usual rights of prisoners of war,” that’s hogwash. On February 7, 2002, President Bush issued a memorandum entitled “Humane Treatment of al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees.” In addition to asserting terrorist detainees don’t meet the legal requirements for protection under the Geneva Conventions (and they don’t), President Bush also wrote, “Of course, our values as a Nation, values that we share with many nations in the world, call for us to treat detainees humanely, including those who are not legally entitled to such treatment. Our Nation has been and will continue to be s strong supporter of Geneva and its principles. As a matter of policy, the United States Armed Forces shall continue to treat detainees humanely and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva.”

“Although this notion has been fought over in the courts and Congress, the administration has largely succeeded in having its way. Because that way has been so contrary to this nation’s usual respect for human rights and simple decency, Guantanamo Bay has become America’s international symbol of shame, its continued existence troubling even to some of the nation’s closest allies.

“On the home front, Guantanamo Bay has been sold to the American people as the place where the worst terrorists are kept, brutal killers whose fate cannot be questioned because to do so is to be soft on terrorism.

“But what if, among the killers, some simple innocent men are being held? What would that say about us as a people? Americans should think about those questions because it has become increasingly obvious that Guantanamo Bay has not been entirely as advertised.”

[RWC] Earth to the PG. I would be surprised if there weren’t “some simple innocent men … being held,” especially when you consider the captures happen on the battlefield. That’s an unfortunate fact of life. Ignoring the fact all criminals profess innocence, does anyone believe there are no innocent Americans in prison because they were mistakenly convicted of a crime they didn’t commit?

In my mind, there are only three ways to guarantee there are no innocents held at Club Gitmo or elsewhere. The first is to simply kill a suspected enemy combatant instead of taking him prisoner. Second, don’t take prisoners. Third, make the qualifications for being taken prisoner so stringent – like catching a guy on videotape – that it would be virtually impossible to imprison an innocent.

Obviously, none of those alternatives makes sense.

Here’s another way to look at it. What would be worse, mistakenly imprisoning an innocent man, or mistakenly letting a terrorist go? If you mistakenly imprison an innocent, that’s bad for him and his family. Nobody likes it, but nobody dies. If you mistakenly let a terrorist go, who knows how many more people he will kill before he’s eventually imprisoned or killed?

“The gulf between myth and reality is well illustrated by the fate of those who have been returned to their home countries. As an Associated Press story made clear in the Post-Gazette on Saturday, the vast majority are immediately freed. Most countries apparently do not believe that these men are guilty of the crimes ascribed to them.

“Some 360 have been released and sent to 26 countries since the detention center opened in January 2002. While the detainees are difficult to track, the Associated Press was able to follow the cases of 245 of them -- and 205 were either freed without being charged or were cleared of charges. Only 40 remain charged with crimes or continue to be detained.

“The Afghan government has freed all 83 of its countrymen sent home; many were believed to be innocent victims of tribal or personal rivalries. Even countries without such an internal dynamic have been quick to free their returning detainees -- including Britain, Spain, Germany, Russia, Australia and Denmark.”

[RWC] I’m sure failing to mention it was an oversight, but some released prisoners were recaptured in Afghanistan and Iraq. Just as I expect some innocents to be captured, I expect some terrorists to be mistakenly released.

“Perhaps the remnant 420 detainees at Guantanamo Bay better fit the terrorist profile, but the damage to America’s reputation has already been done and continued skepticism can’t be avoided.

“Even Americans aren’t safe from the excesses in the war on terror. A chilling front-page story in The New York Times Monday recounted the story of Donald Vance, a 29-year-old Navy veteran from Chicago who went to Iraq as a contractor. He turned into a whistle-blower, passing information to the FBI about suspicious activities at the Iraqi security firm where he worked.

“For his trouble, he was arrested with a colleague and held for weeks in the military’s maximum security site in Baghdad without access to counsel and under harsh conditions. Incredibly, it seems that the very activity he had told the authorities about had made him a suspect. Both men were eventually released.”

[RWC] Given the source of the story is the home of the made up story (Remember Jayson Blair?), who knows if it’s true. If it’s true, who knows if it presented the whole story?

“From Guantanamo Bay to Baghdad, something is very wrong with this picture.”

[RWC] I wonder what it must be like to live in a world in which no one is mistakenly apprehended or freed.