Political Wimps and Cowards Whining About Guantanamo Terrorists
By Larry Johnson on January 25, 2009 at 1:57 PM in Current Affairs
We defeated Nazi Germany, which at one point controlled all of Europe and major swaths of the Soviet Union and North Africa. We held members of that master race in prison camps scattered throughout the United States. We obliterated Japan, which had raped and pillaged most of Asia and the islands of the Pacific. And we pushed Soviet communism to a dramatic collapse. We stood up against armies that numbered in the millions. Massive air power with nuclear bombs and fully armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. But when it comes to thinking rationally about a handful–245 to be precise–of real and alleged radical Islamic terrorists being locked up in the United States we soil ourselves.
We have imprisoned and executed some of the world’s most heinous mass murderers. We have lincarcerated the heads of major narcotics cartels and drug gangs. Hell, we have Hells’ Angels and skinheads in our prisons and don’t lose a nights sleep. Ye,t raise the possibility that we might put 150 suspected terrorists in prisons on U.S. soil and many of our political leaders–Republicans in particular–act like panicked passengers on the Titanic. But it is not just Republicans. Remember when Kansans had a pair of balls and some backbone? Not anymore. The Jayhawks are now a bunch of chickenhawks:
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) added her voice yesterday to a predictable chorus of Kansas politicians campaigning to prohibit any detainees from Guantanamo ending up at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Ft. Leavenworth when President-elect Obama closes the prison. Concerns about future acts terrorism are understandable, if misguided, in the debate surrounding the closure of Guantanamo. Yet, it is not enough to say Guantanamo is a problem and it must be closed and then refuse to be part of the solution.
Home-state politicians screaming “not-in-my-back-yard” (NIMBY) will certainly become a major feature of the debate surrounding Guantanamo in the weeks and months to come. Sen. Sam Brownback (R) is driving this effort which has led to legislation being introduced at the local, state, and national level to keep Guantanamo detainees out of Kansas. It is disappointing that Gov. Sebelius has jumped on the Brownback NIMBY bandwagon, not least because the motivation to protect American lives should encourage our leaders to explore every available option to close Guantanamo quickly and responsibly.
This kind of fearmongering and handwringing is pathetic and unworthy of any American. These terrorists are not ten feet tall Terminators that we cannot stop. A handful–less than thirty assholes in Iraq and Pakistan–sawed off the heads of Danny Pearl and others and many of our leaders and fellow citizens now insist that the potential of that kind of threat is too terrible and too dangerous to bring into America. Well, if that reaction is not a sign of cowardice I don’t know what is. Watching someone being decapitated is horrible, but regardless of the mechanism of death, dead is dead. It is absurd and laughable to insist that if we dare put one of those people in a U.S. prison that we cannot control them or protect ourselves.
Excuse me. BUT THAT IS PURE HORSESHIT!! I am angry about this (bet you could not tell). To pretend that terrorism is the greatest, most severe threat we have ever faced displays a level of ignorance of history and genuine tyrants and murderers that defies my ability to categorize it. I can understand a 12 year old kid being out of touch with history, but what is the excuse for folks like Sibelius and Brownback. Even Rudy Giuliani has lost his cojones.
There was a time when Rudy fearlessly stood up to the Italian mob. The mob engaged in terrorism too. Italian and American mobsters murdered innocent people and blew up judges. Back then Rudy Giuliani demanded they be brought to trial, brought to the United States, and put away for good. Now we confront a relatively small number of radical religious nuts. They are great at using their religious beliefs to threaten us. They talk a lot of shit and post it on the internet. Yet, despite their sincere desire to harm us they cannot and have not attacked us at will where ever and when ever they want. Our countermeasures have been pretty good and the Bin Laden crowd has not received much love in the muslim world. Yet in the face of these threats to harm us we want to fold our judicial system, surrender our Constitution, crawl into a fetal position and start sucking our thumbs? De we seriously believe that we as a people are incapable of dealing with this horrific, terrible threat within our territory just because the terrorists don’t fight fair and use nasty methods? Makes you ashamed to call yourself an American.
I hope that President Obama does not cave into this kind to silly ass fear mongering. His signing of the Executive Order to close Guantanmo is a step in the right direction. Are there any other politicians with the courage and intelligence to back him up on this?
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