That is a disappointing reply. I wish you would have dealt with the substance of what I said rather than being dismissive.
I have a lot of respect for you, eye95, but we're not seeing eye to eye on this (pun intended,
).
I was certainly not being dismissive. When I mentioned "the party line," I meant the Bush/Cheney-era justification for stablishing and perpetuating the Gulag, er, Gitmo detention facility. And my comment there was on target, as well, although not in terms of housing in temperature-controlled environments, being well-fed, and given appropriate medical care.
Beyond those basics,
they've been tortured:
"...any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions." -
Source
Furthermore, regardless of their classification as prisoners of war, terrorists, or international criminals, they've been held for years without trial.
Finally, I strongly disagree with your assertion that a "war on terrorism" constitutes valid justification for holding them as POWs, as they flat out do not meet the
qualifications for prisoner of war status:
- They're not lawful combatants.
- They have not conducted military operations in accordance with the laws of war.
- They do not wear a "fixed distinctive marking, visible from a distance" and bear arms openly.
As a final point, there is no distinct country with whom to conduct negotiations towards armistice or peace treaty, which means there's no end in sight for the longevity of the war.
Don't get me wrong, eye95, as I'm not saying "let them go." I'm saying "try them and either find them guilty under our laws or the laws of the country in which the offense was committed, punishing them accordingly, or let them go."
It's not fun to let a known bad guy go, but we do it all the time. It's an integral part of our justice system, as the overriding principle is to avoid inadvertantly convicting the innocent, rather than convicting all who
may be guilty.
Continued lack of progress and ongoing incarceration is nothing more than sentence in absentia.