Guantanamo, the Left and our military rules of engagement

The United States Supreme Court will reconsider whether prisoners at Guantanamo Bay can challenge their detention in civilian courts. Some see this as a "potential blow to the Bush Administration." Maybe, maybe not. Guantanamo has been a rally point for the terrorists, the political Left and the main stream media. President George W. Bush has indicated he is working on plans to close Gitmo. This should please those who think not allowing a detainee to watch his favorite TV show is "torture".

Bush is not going to bring these "illegal enemy combatants" to the United States and allow them to enter our court system where they will ultimately be let go by judges and lawyers who claim the defendant's civil rights have been abused. Word is, Bush is considering transferring the terrorists to a facility in Afghanistan, and then closing Gitmo. I hope he follows through with this plan. But what does out military think about this and people like Eric M. Freedman?

Eric M Freedman, professor of constitutional law at the Hofstra law school, who has been advising the detainees, said: "This is a stunning victory for the detainees. It goes well beyond what we asked for, and clearly indicates the unease up there [at the supreme court]". (Al Jazeera)

I'm reading "Lone Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell for the Right Truth Book Club. I would like to share a few thoughts Mr. Luttrell makes in his book.

I was more acutely aware of a growing problem which faces U.S. forces on active duty in theaters of war all over the world. For me, it began in Iraq, the first murmurings from the liberal part of the U.S.A. that we were somehow in the wrong, brutal killers, bullying other countries; that we who put our lives on the line for our nation at the behest of our government should somehow be charged with murder for shooting our enemy.

It's been an insidious progression, the criticisms of the U.S. Armed Forces from politicians and from the liberal media which knows nothing of combat, nothing of our training, and nothing of the mortal dangers we face out there on the front line. Each of the six of us in that aircraft en route to Afghanistan had constantly in the back of our minds the ever-intrusive rules of engagement.

These are drawn up for us to follow by some politician sitting in some distant committee room in Washington, D.C. And that a very long way from the battlefield ...[snip]

And those ROE are very specific: We may not open fire until we are fired upon or have positively identified our enemy and have proof of his intentions. [snip]

That situation might look simple in Washington, where the human rights of terrorists are often given hish priority. And I am certain liberal politicians would defend their position to the death. Because everyone knows liberals have never been wrong about anything. You can ask them. Anytime. [snip]

I can say from firsthand experience that those rules of engagement cost the lives of three of the finest U.S. Navy SEaLs who have ever served. [snip]

I promise you, every insurgent, freedom fighter, and stray gunman in Iraq who we arrested knew the ropes, knew that the way out was to announce he had been tortured by Americans, ill treated, or prevented from reading the Koran or eating his breakfast or watching the television. They all knew al-Jazeera, the Arab broadcasters, would pick it up, and it would be relayed to the U.S.A., where the liberal media would joyfully accuse all of us of being murderers or barbarians or something. Those terrorist organizations laugh at the U.S. media and they know exactly how to use the system against us.

That means that every one of the 375 illegal alien combatant detainees held in Guantanamo know about that too. They know it, they say it, they use it against our military who are guarding them, they use it against us via our own media and politicians. And that's in Cuba. What do you think will happen when these terrorists get into U.S. courts?

As a pundit on Fox News with Brit Hume said today, they will be set free. Attorneys for these terrorists will claim the evidence has been tainted, they will complain that the chain of evidence has been corrupted, they will complain that their "clients" civil rights have been abused, and the court will have no choice but to let them go.

Is this really what America has become? At the beginning of "Lone Survivor", Mr. Luttrell says:

"Because in the end, your enemy must ultimately fear you, understand your supremacy."

I'm not sure our enemy fears us any more. They know our weaknesses and they exploit them to their advantage. Our weaknesses are the politically correct, ACLU loving, liberal politicians and media. They will be our undoing.

Just ask Marcus Luttrell what he would say about this story from The Independent, "A childs plea: 'Please close Guantanamo jail so I can see my daddy and give him a hug'."

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Other reading:
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Olmert to Israeli Citizens: You're On Your Own, American Israeli Patriot
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Happy 4th Of July Open Trackback Weekend, 123Beta
LazinEss OpenTrackback WeekenD, Woman Honor Thyself

Comments

[Debbie]

Rex, I would go along with that. But I think the plan would still keep the terrorists suspects under American control, not Afghani. too bad.

[Rex]

this is good news! think about it. We close Gitmo or any other prisons, turn the inmates over to an Afghan or Iraq prison. We are through with them and I assure you the prisoners would pray each day to be back in our prisons. I figure in 30 days they will hang every one of them. Too damn bad.

[Stormwarning]

So, how did the terrorists (liek al Qaeda in Iraq) learn how to set up IEDs and such?

[Phil]

Why of course the Left wants to do that, and the left wants to help train the terrorist who haven't been well trained in setting up explosives to blow us up with.

The left is also wants to help the Terrorist by giving them all the locations of where to find good targets over here as to where to hit us.

The Treasonous Lefists.