Open question to all - with all of the fuss lately over comments from people like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Dick Durbin, Amnesty International and others over conditions and the situation at Gitmo, I have to ask a serious question:
Just what should we do with the enemy combatants / prisoners / whatever you wish to call them that we are housing at Gitmo?
Seriously, what do we do with these people? Return them to the country of their choice so they can eventually find their way back into the hostilities, or make their way to the closest busy Bagdhad restaurant so they can be homicide bombers / martyrs?
How about release them to a neutral country? Maybe send them to France where they can become citizens there? How about to Belgium? Germany? Send them to Syria perhaps? To Iran?
How about bring them to the U.S.? If we bring them here, we can let them all have lawyers that get them in front of a jury and have them found not guilty because there is a reasonable doubt as to whether or not they are terrorists and whether or not they really were aiming at U.S. military personnel when they were caught with weapons in hand? If you promise a party after the trial (ala Michael Jackson), I'm sure the Jackson jury members would be happy to go back to work again for a little longer, right?
I'm left wondering if perhaps the reason that some are griping about Gitmo is because they believe we are wasting money keeping these prisoners there ad infinitum. Remember, we're feeding these people, clothing them, keeping them relatively comfortable, allowing for them to exercise their religious beliefs, and generally treating them as humanely as possible, without having to worry that they'll rush off to pick up arms against us again. But even with this humane treatment, we are not converting them to lovers of the U.S. Remember, a great percentage of these individuals would be right at the head of the line to start attacking us again if given the opportunity (prior news articles mention the high rates of former combatants that returned to the fight once released).
So again, what in the name of all that is holy do we do with these people? Let them slowly rot in the most humane prison conditions we can create, or what!?!??!!?!?
I know - how about we just let them walk right out the gates at Gitmo to go become citizens of Castro's Cuba? If a few are shot at as they leave the relative safety of Gitmo would that be ok?
Oh, better yet, how about a new reality show -- a real life "Lost" and "Survivor" hybrid reality show for these people -- take them to a remote Atoll and abandon them there with a months worth of food and some very basic tools (flint and tinder). Have Mark Burnett and Jerry Bruckheimer film everything and even perhaps offer the "winners" a free trip to the next Island where they can be immune from voting and instead perhaps they can be behind the scenes cast members that help determine the show's outcome without ever really interfering.
Comments anyone?
