Limbo Land

With the thoughts you'll be thinkin'
you could be another Lincoln

If you only had a brain
--If I only Had a Brain, Harburg/Arlen

_______________

Ranger was wrong.

Specifically, in the semantical matter of detainees in the current hostilities. His position was that detainees were actually either Prisoners of War or criminals, who should be held and charged within the Federal Court system.

However, it is now apparent that most of these people are in fact political prisoners, as they are being held not through any wartime or constitutional legality. "23 of the men have been declared in court not to be enemies of the United States," yet they live in a "strange limbo" behind barbed wire at Gitmo (For 20 at Guantánamo, Court Victories Fall Short.)

These people are neither enemy combatants nor illegal enemy combatants. Barring criminal status, that leaves only one possibility.

Following Secretary of State Clinton's signature on the Department of State's Report on Human Rights-- which tapped Communist China for its abuses -- the U.S. does look a bit hypocritical, especially considering the fact that exonerated men are still languishing in U.S. prisons. President Obama must act quickly and order the release of these men. The rehabilitation of America requires this action.

These incarcerated men are very possibly enemies of the U.S., just not illegal enemy combatants; not executably so. No moreso than the average Pakistani walking the streets of Islamabad.

They will probably end up living in the U.S. and living well, because they were illegally imprisoned and tortured. (Torture is being illegally detained for seven years.) While a very real scenario, it is nothing to get excited about.

In World War II German and Italian troops were housed and utilized as day labor in the U.S., and many remained in the states, later becoming citizens. Many also returned to America after their repatriation.

What better statement could be made about the U.S. than the integration of former prisoner and enemies into our society? The Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) has created such terror that governors are afraid to have al-Qaeda members incarcerated in facilities in their states. We are like the Tin and the Straw Man, with great fear stoked by little cogitation.

The U.S. can fight and kill them over there, yet are too afraid to even jail them here?

"In a news conference in Washington, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that in a visit to Guantánamo on Monday he noted a “very conscious attempt” by guards to 'conduct themselves in an appropriate way'."

How does a guard comport himself in an "appropriate way" while illegally detaining prisoners? And you thought looking good while performing activities was just the purview of the Bush administration. Sounds good, though.

The continued incarceration of these prisoners in a criminal act. It is called false imprisonment.

The entire PWOT was ill-conceived and executed. A good plan addresses these contingencies before their actuality, rather than as an afterthought.