Why do we deserve to be the target of extremists around the world? We're just holding aloft the shining light of Liberty.
- Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (a military base on the soil of a country we've been embargoing for 30 years...)
- Estimated 590 terror suspects from about 40 countries held
- 139 already released
- 12 "transferred for continued detention" in home countries
- Four detainees charged
Numbers courtesy of the BBC. The Bush administration doesn't feel the need to officially share these, or any other, numbers with the American people. Keep up the good work, vote Republican.
10 comments:
Ever thought of running for office? I have a hunch your passions are wasted in your career of choice...
W
The idiot
Of course America doesn't believe in liberty. That's why we never release prisoners from our pris...oh, wait.
And of course we aren't holding aloft a "shining light of Liberty." We make slaves of everyone. That's why no one willingly immigrates here.
And why that wonderful, stand-up group of boy scouts, Hamas, is criticizing America now.
"America is committing big crimes against the Arab and Islamic countries," says its leader.
Aww. Unlike Hamas, which is so tolerant it refuses to recognize Israel as a country.
On a more serious note, here's the way I see things. War is never pretty and every time we go to war, things happen that no one can be proud of. In World War II, we did
a number of things of that sort, the most obvious is the bombing of Nagasaki. And if you wanted to, you could say that because of that bombing, Americans are terrorists, that they'd rather kill than liberate, that they're war-mongers and haters, etc. But in doing so you'd ignore every accomplishment America made in World War II. You'd ignore it's role in stopping the holocaust and you'd have to disregard the sacrifice of the men who died because they did love liberty.
Today, you can do the same thing. You can say, hey look, "America's doing bad things! We deserve to be attacked!" Or you can acknowledge the sacrifice of those who've died to free others. And you can realize the happiness of those who have been freed from prisons much worse than the Gitmo. Remember those people who were buried alive? We let them out. And even if you'd
be happy to leave them there, I suspect that they're glad to be out.
I'm glad they are.
I'm alive because America exists.
Without it, I wouldn't have been born. My Grandfather, like his brother, would have been killed.
So don't you tell me this country doesn't love liberty. I know it does. And because people who believe in that are Republicans, while those who don't are not, I WILL continue to vote Republican.
When I see more pride in America
from your side, I may change.
3:39 PM
Stirring...
So, the argument is that it's okay to do something shitty if someone else does something shittier? It's okay to keep people locked up in a military prison for years and then quietly let them out without so much as an apology because somewhere else people are being held in a worse prison?
What I love about America is the potential for greatness it has. There are few places with greater opportunity than right here.
What I hate is that most of the people in this country are fine with mediocrity. People want to come here, so that must mean we're great, which means we shouldn't strive for better - to be better?
Clearly, you're in the 'my country right or wrong' camp and I'm in the 'with the great opportunities we have, come great responsibilities to help the weak' camp.
Just because we've done good things doesn't mean we're not also doing bad things.
On one hand, I respect the soldiers who have risked their lives to aid others. There are men and women who have saved many people's lives. They've given up the comfort of a soft bed, a 7-Eleven up the street and having their loved ones near. These people deserve more appreciation than can be given.
On the other hand, there are also people wearing the same uniforms that have beat people, tied them up with wires, set dogs on them and piled them in naked heaps. This isn't something that just happens in far off history.
Maybe if more people stood up in 1939, 1940, 1941... and said, 'No', the Holocaust wouldn't have happened. But they didn't and an entire country, an entire world, let it happen.
Is Guantanamo Bay the same as Auschwitz? Of course not. But holding people in captivity for no reason is wrong.
It doesn't bother you that 139 people from around the world have been held because they were said to be the worst of the worst and have subsequently been let go?
If they're the worst of the worst with ties to terrorism, why were they let go? If they turned out to not have those ties to terrorism, why were they held with little to no legal rights? Don't they deserve at least an apology?
What the people of this country love is their own liberties... What we should love is everyone's liberties.
Phewf. Get a room already. The sexual tension between you two is staggering...
;o)
I can totally understand why you feel discouraged with your current government regime. Things are starting to get ugly here as well. It's interesting to see how it starts to creep in.
Our new Prime Minister has decided that we will no longer lower the flag when our soldiers are killed in the line of duty. He has also decided that the media will be banned from covering/filming the caskets of 4 most recent casualties when they return home.
What is he so afraid of? That we will actually figure out people are being killed? and this is serious business? Is it the beginning of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?
Sorry for my own personal rant today.
Holy high horse! I believe it was a certain Adolf that split views and ideologies into "camps". Nice post Miranda. Shawn, you catch more republicans with solutions than with self loathing.
Brazenhead say 6ish for libations and fisticuffs? ;)
Gregg the Chef
Solid. BHead it is. I'm ready to pugil your ist. I must tan first, because that's what liberals do...they talk a lot and then go tan.
Today's goal isn't to catch any Republicans, but irking folks is high on the list. I'm just in that kind of mood...
We also:
Pay Iraqi newspapers to run our propoganda
Used European countries as torture bases
oh God, never mind I don't have the energy to list the other 123 reasons the rest of the world laughes at/despises us
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