I am excited to hear that Guantanamo is coming to an end. I'm not sure of the details of what goes on there, and I think the media has really hyped it up, but I feel like it's the right thing to do. We are a step closer to regaining the moral high ground we were on after 9/11. One of the unique aspects of this war is that we are different than our enemies. They have no problems torturing us, killing women and children, or hiding behind non-combatants. It is important that we are as unlike them as possible and I think Guantanamo closing is a good start.
It'll be interesting to see what changes will come about with Obama as president.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you wholeheartedly on closing Guantanamo. The US really ought to be on hire ground. Glad President Obama is headed in that direction.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteI must respectfully disagree. First of all, I do not think that us being different from our enemies is an aspect unique to this war. I dare say that we were very different from the Nazis and from Mussolini's Fascists during WWII; I would say that there was clearly a good vs. evil element there. That is not to say that every German foot soldier was evil or that every American and Allied soldier was a saint. Certainly not: but there was a good side and an evil side, a good cause and an evil cause. Likewise, during Korean and Vietnam we were again very different from our enemies, both in cause and in method. Again the good vs. evil dynamic. I would contend that the same theme has carried through to this war. Though unique in many ways, one thing the War on Terror has in common with past wars is that one side still represents good and the other represents evil.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I do not think that anything that went on at Guantanamo compromised our moral high ground. Our popularity maybe, but I would always rather be right than popular. We were very different from our enemies even at Guantanamo. We didn't chop of heads there; we didn't torture for the thrill of it; we didn't target innocents or women and children. We interrogated captured enemy combatants in order to obtain vital intelligence. The effectiveness of the methods of interrogation used can and have been debated, but in no way did such interrogation compromise our moral high ground in this war.
Already, former inhabitants of Guantanamo have been traced back to terror organizations. In fact, the head of the Yemen terrorist cell is one of them. The moral gap between our enemies and us in this war is already wide and stark. We need be watchful that in a well-intentioned but misguided effort to widen said gap that we not compromise our nation's security in the process.