The Cynical Reflex
The Cynical Reflex
Upon hearing of the three self-hangings at Guantanamo Bay (with ropes made of bedsheets and clothing strips) and our government's first spin on the story, I had these thoughts in this sequence: -Poor devils. Incarcerated without charges or counsel for nearly four years... just gave up the ghost.
- Oh, the "official" response is that they were really, really bad guys. Terrorists, of course, and one of them a "high Al Quaida operative." - How will we or the world ever know if that's so? No official charges, no public trials with evidence, no proof for anyone to look at. They could have been wrong-place-wrong-time guys who were pruning fig trees when captured for all we will ever know (the first of the "cynical reflexes" I experienced. Big PR problem for the government).
- Then "These were not acts of desperation, but acts of war against the U.S." sayeth the government. Hmmm. The second cynical reflex kicks in. Strange way to wage war. Oh, maybe they had this plan: "Let's hang ourselves and the U.S. will make a lot of dumb comments about it which will be the object of derision among our Muslim brothers and harden their resolve." Might work.
- Finally I hear on CNN this morning, "Officials acted immediately by deciding to take away the prisoners' bedsheets during the day." Of course these terrorist warriors hung themselves at night. I suggest the next war movie on the W on T be called "Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest."
- The fact that I, a good citizen who loves America, respond this way is a measure of just how counterproductive Constitution-busting decisions like holding prisoners in the way we are doing it really is.
Upon hearing of the three self-hangings at Guantanamo Bay (with ropes made of bedsheets and clothing strips) and our government's first spin on the story, I had these thoughts in this sequence: -Poor devils. Incarcerated without charges or counsel for nearly four years... just gave up the ghost.
- Oh, the "official" response is that they were really, really bad guys. Terrorists, of course, and one of them a "high Al Quaida operative." - How will we or the world ever know if that's so? No official charges, no public trials with evidence, no proof for anyone to look at. They could have been wrong-place-wrong-time guys who were pruning fig trees when captured for all we will ever know (the first of the "cynical reflexes" I experienced. Big PR problem for the government).
- Then "These were not acts of desperation, but acts of war against the U.S." sayeth the government. Hmmm. The second cynical reflex kicks in. Strange way to wage war. Oh, maybe they had this plan: "Let's hang ourselves and the U.S. will make a lot of dumb comments about it which will be the object of derision among our Muslim brothers and harden their resolve." Might work.
- Finally I hear on CNN this morning, "Officials acted immediately by deciding to take away the prisoners' bedsheets during the day." Of course these terrorist warriors hung themselves at night. I suggest the next war movie on the W on T be called "Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest."
- The fact that I, a good citizen who loves America, respond this way is a measure of just how counterproductive Constitution-busting decisions like holding prisoners in the way we are doing it really is.
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