| « | Spearheads |
»
|
|
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
A Quick Thought About Camp X-Ray
From the moment the decision was taken not to summarily execute irregular combatants in Afghanistan and Iraq, it was inevitable that legions of carpers and howlers would fasten on whatever detention facility, wherever located, those "detainees" were kept in. This is because all things have their costs.
As a quick example: the detainees are all Muslims, and presumedly of the more "religious" variety . (Yes, those were sneer quotes.) So detention policy had to take one of two stands:
- The detainees' practice of their "religion" would be facilitated to the utmost degree compatible with operational security;
- Sorry, Jamal, but we ain't got time for your pseudo-religious crap.
Camp X-Ray, the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, took the first approach. That made it possible for the detainees to register complaints about crude and irreverent treatment of the "religious" materials the guards provided them. (No, your Curmudgeon will not leave off the sneer quotes; try reading the Qur'an yourself if you want to know why.) But had the camp adopted the second approach, the detainees would have raised a galactic stink about our "war against Islam," as evidenced by the impediments placed on their practice of their "faith." They would have had the support of all those who seize upon any opportunity to defame the United States and paint it as a theofascist nation inherently hostile to "the Other."
Every policy decision involves tradeoffs. America's enemies have become adept at spotlighting the costs while shoving the benefits and rationales conveniently offstage. Those who allow accusations such as the recent Qur'an-flushing nonsense to trouble them might want to keep that in mind.
Comments
The trouble with allowing “religious” materials to be given to the detainess is that (ironically) the ACLU would be screaming bloody murder about the ‘lack of religous freedom’ that the prisoners were dealing with....I’m thinking that the prisoners should be thanking whatever deity they dig that they didn’t get a 9mm slug in the back of the head on the battlefield.
Posted by Mad Mikey on 06/01/2005 at 07:22 PMI’m feeling a fair amount of real frustration over the fact that the military may in fact have access to toilets capable of flushing a Koran sized book without hopelessly and irretrievably jamming up, and they’re keeping them a secret. (My initial reaction was “IMPOSSIBLE!”, but recent revelations seem to indicate that the stories might be true.) But no outrage at all over the _idea_ of flushing a Koran as an interrogation tactic.
In a world where we’ll inevitably be accused of torture whether we’re doing it or not, it’s even more important that our guys know precisely where the lines are. And this is _not_ on the wrong side of them.
Posted by Matt on 06/01/2005 at 07:34 PMI do not UNDERSTAND why, why, why we keep appeasing/kissing up to these assholes, any of them. It’s like the Republicans in the Senate, unwilling to act because the media, the democrats, the lefties of all stripes-foreign and domestic-will jump up and down and scream at us/them the names they’re already screaming simply because we’re breathing.
We should just act in our own best rational self-interest and when the inevitable ska-reaming starts, give ‘em an “...and your point is?”, repeatedly til their heads explode.
Posted by on 06/01/2005 at 11:39 PMThe “Sorry, Jamal, but we ain’t got time for your pseudo-religious crap” approach, while tempting, just isn’t worth the hassle. It would undoubtedly inflame anti-American sentiment, without producing any real gain.
I am deeply troubled by Camp X-Ray. I agree entirely with Mr. Porretto that these out-of-uniform irregulars have, by the laws of war, earned a bullet to the head and an unmarked grave. If the Bush Administration had chosen that path, I would sleep soundly at night.
But they didn’t. Instead they chose to detain these prisoners indefinitely. I have no sympathy for these jihadi vermin, but I fear greatly for the future of the rule of law in the U.S. Some few of these detainees are (or at least have a plausible claim to be) U.S. citizens. They have been denied access to the courts. This is wrong. I cannot help but think their heirs & children will, in 20 years, demand compensation and apologies for their unlawful detention. Based on the precendent of the internment of Japanese-Americans in WWII and subsequent American breast-beating, they’ll probably get both.
This is the worst of both worlds: degradation of the rule of law, followed by self-recrimination for our mistreatment of our sworn enemies. And for what? So Ali the onetime goatherd can be forced to confess that his cousin Yafaz hates Americans too? Exactly how much useful intelligence can be gained from irregulars and volunteer militia types?
I hope I’m wrong about that. I’d like to think the entire process hasn’t been a waste of time. But I’ve heard no evidence that anything of value has been wrung from these creeps. Every one of them who is eventually released is a living rebuke to the entire dog-and-pony show.
I apologize for the length of this comment.
Posted by on 06/07/2005 at 01:29 PM
Comment Form
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
