Is anybody paying attention to McClatchy's powerful Guantánamo exposé?

Thanks for calling attention to this. McClatchy is right that this story has a long tail. It's the coming train wreck for the November election. Charles Holdeferauthor of The Contractor

The McClatchy news service seems to be telling us that they are on the cutting edge of journalism, that their investigations are thorough and painstaking, and that they know what is best for America. I hate to be technical, but did this cutting edge news service predict the 1993 World Trade Center bombing? Or the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania? Or the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia? Or the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen? Or the 2001 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? Did the McClatchy News Service tell the American public about the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990's, the ones that were ordered to be closed by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267 in 1999? Did they inform the American public that Resolution 1267 also ordered the Taliban to arrest one Osama bin Laden and turn him over to international authorities within 30 days? Did they inform the American public that the Taliban never complied and that the U.S., led by President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeline Albright, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, and Secretary of Defense William Cohen never enforced that resolution, which ensured that Al Qaeda was free to continue to plan the 9/11 attacks and Osama bin Laden would go free? No, the McClatchy News Service, with all of it's resources, all of it's wisdom, all of it's vigilance,  never warned the American public about one single terrorist threat. It never stopped a terrorist attack, and never saved one American life from terrorism. But McClatchy is determined to be the guardian and the savior of suspected unlawful enemy combatants who have the blood of American soldiers, including women and minorities, on their hands. They will tirelessly defend those who ensured that some American children will never see their father or mother again; those children wet their pillows with their tears every night. These unlawful enemy combatants violated the Geneva Conventions by not wearing uniforms, not carrying weapons openly, not having a central commander, not representing a specific state or people, not engaging in lawful guerilla warfare(which is different than terrorist attacks, because they target only military personnel, military targets, or civilian target used to further a war effort, such as fuel refineries, munitions plants, factories, etc..), and by deliberately and willfully targetting civilians with military force in order to achieve political goals(the definition of terrorism); they are WAR CRIMINALS. Did the McClatchy News Service tell the American public why unlawful enemy combatants, who are war criminals according to the Geneva Conventions, cannot be successfully tried in civilian courts? They cannot because when they were captured, in the middle of military operations, U.S. troops did not have time to take fingerprints, collect forensic evidence, or interview witnesses. No military unit has ever done this in the middle of a battle, or in the midst of a foreign country where the majority of the population speak a foreign tongue(Pashto or Arabic) that few American soldiers speak. Therefore, meeting the burden of proof in a civilian court after a battlefield apprehension is virtually impossible.  No, all that the McClatchy News Service is dedicated to is being certain that AFTER Americans are killed by terrorists, AFTER their blood and body parts are strewn about, after their families are devastated and scarred for life, that the terrorist suspects will have all the rights of American citizens, rights never granted in 232 years of American history and jurisprudence, and that they will have the highest possible chance of being exonerated and released by being tried in civilian courts meant for domestic criminals whose burden of proof can never be met by the U.S. military. Thirty seven Guantanamo Bay detainees released by the U.S. military have returned to the battlefield overseas and killed U.S. and NATO coalition soldiers; now their fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, and children must live without a loved one because unlawful enemy combatants and war criminals were released due to insufficient evidence to convict them. The McClatchy News Service has no sense of duty to protect the lives of Americans; they just feel a sense of duty to protect the lives of terrorists and war criminals who are suspected of killing Americans. Truly, these are noble men and women. Has the McClatchy News Service explained to the American public how, if it is the Guantanamo Bay detention center that allegedly makes Islamist Jihadists angry with the U.S. and causes terrorism, what caused the numerous terrorist attacks against U.S. interests and the mainland U.S. itself from the 1970s to 2001?  Guantanamo Bay was used as a detention center for suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists and war criminals only since 2002; what made the Islamist terrorists angry with the U.S. before 2002? The McClatchy News Service is silent in that matter. Radical Islamist Jihadists are angry with America for the same reason that the Ku Klux Klan was angry with African-Americans and the Nazis were angry with Jews: they have been taught to hate Americans since they were small children and have been raised to kill them. American foreign policy has nothing to do with Radical Islamist Jihadists, as they do what they do because they have been trained in the doctrine of Salafism, Fatah, Takfir, and Jihad. If anyone other than the McClatchy News Service wants to learn about these terms and what they mean, please see the writings of Dr. Walid Phares, PhD., who unlike the McClatchy News Service, saw the 9/11 attacks coming and tried to warn the U.S. government, but was labelled an extremist and a war monger by the leading Middle Eastern Affairs experts from American universities and was ignored. Dr. Phares actually values the life of EVERY American, and has devoted his life to educating the American public about Radical Salafist Islamist Jihadism and how to stop it. And, according to Dr. Walid Phares, news media outlets like the McClatchy News Service, that make America the 'bad guy' and defend the terrorists as the 'poor little guy' ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE TERRORISTS BATTLE PLAN AGAINST AMERICA. The Jihadists plan to use our own news media against us, and they are doing it RIGHT NOW. They have studied it, and learned how to manipulate it, with claims of 'torture,' 'racism,' 'abuse,' 'insensitivity,' and every other politically correct argument. While we have not been studying the terrorists...THEY HAVE BEEN STUDYING US. They know how our educational system works; they know how our news media work; they know how our legal system works; they know how our political system works. And their plan is to manipulate them against us, in order to win the war of IDEAS. This is called PSY-OPS, or "psychological operations," and has been used by militaries for centuries, to misinform, manipulate, and discourage enemy troops, civilians, and governments into making the wrong decisions in a time of war.  Yes, Al Qaeda and the hundred or thousands of other Radical Salafist Islamist Jihadist terrorist groups around the world as studying America right now, learning how to turn us against each other, how to manipulate us, how to misinform us, and how to confuse us, SO THAT WE WILL NOT SEE THE NEXT 9/11 COMING. And the next 9/11 will not be in one or two cities, Dr. Phares predicts; IT WILL BE IN DOZENS OR HUNDREDS OF U.S. CITIES AND MOST LIKELY WILL INVOLVE NUCLEAR, CHEMICAL, OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS as well as conventional weapons, and will make 9/11 look like a Boy Scout cookout. The McClatchy News Service is softening up the American public, telling us that we are the true terrorists, that we must give these poor men who were apprehended by a U.S. military full of ignorant minorities and incompetent women the full rights of American citizens and trials in courts where they cannot possibly be convicted. Therefore, they will go free, and live to plan and to execute the next 9/11 attack upon America. Yes, the McClatchy News Service is on the cutting edge...of setting America up for the next 9/11. Let us hope that that attack does not occur near the McClatchy News Service Headquarters in the U.S..  WHAT WOULD THE TERRORISTS DO WITHOUT THEM?!

The McClatchy news service seems to be telling us that they are on the cutting edge of journalism, that their investigations are thorough and painstaking, and that they know what is best for America. I hate to be technical, but did this cutting edge news service predict the 1993 World Trade Center bombing? Or the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania? Or the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia? Or the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen? Or the 2001 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? Did the McClatchy News Service tell the American public about the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990's, the ones that were ordered to be closed by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267 in 1999? Did they inform the American public that Resolution 1267 also ordered the Taliban to arrest one Osama bin Laden and turn him over to international authorities within 30 days? Did they inform the American public that the Taliban never complied and that the U.S., led by President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeline Albright, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, and Secretary of Defense William Cohen never enforced that resolution, which ensured that Al Qaeda was free to continue to plan the 9/11 attacks and Osama bin Laden would go free? No, the McClatchy News Service, with all of it's resources, all of it's wisdom, all of it's vigilance,  never warned the American public about one single terrorist threat. It never stopped a terrorist attack, and never saved one American life from terrorism. But McClatchy is determined to be the guardian and the savior of suspected unlawful enemy combatants who have the blood of American soldiers, including women and minorities, on their hands. They will tirelessly defend those who ensured that some American children will never see their father or mother again; those children wet their pillows with their tears every night. These unlawful enemy combatants violated the Geneva Conventions by not wearing uniforms, not carrying weapons openly, not having a central commander, not representing a specific state or people, not engaging in lawful guerilla warfare(which is different than terrorist attacks, because they target only military personnel, military targets, or civilian target used to further a war effort, such as fuel refineries, munitions plants, factories, etc..), and by deliberately and willfully targetting civilians with military force in order to achieve political goals(the definition of terrorism); they are WAR CRIMINALS. Did the McClatchy News Service tell the American public why unlawful enemy combatants, who are war criminals according to the Geneva Conventions, cannot be successfully tried in civilian courts? They cannot because when they were captured, in the middle of military operations, U.S. troops did not have time to take fingerprints, collect forensic evidence, or interview witnesses. No military unit has ever done this in the middle of a battle, or in the midst of a foreign country where the majority of the population speak a foreign tongue(Pashto or Arabic) that few American soldiers speak. Therefore, meeting the burden of proof in a civilian court after a battlefield apprehension is virtually impossible.  No, all that the McClatchy News Service is dedicated to is being certain that AFTER Americans are killed by terrorists, AFTER their blood and body parts are strewn about, after their families are devastated and scarred for life, that the terrorist suspects will have all the rights of American citizens, rights never granted in 232 years of American history and jurisprudence, and that they will have the highest possible chance of being exonerated and released by being tried in civilian courts meant for domestic criminals whose burden of proof can never be met by the U.S. military. Thirty seven Guantanamo Bay detainees released by the U.S. military have returned to the battlefield overseas and killed U.S. and NATO coalition soldiers; now their fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, and children must live without a loved one because unlawful enemy combatants and war criminals were released due to insufficient evidence to convict them. The McClatchy News Service has no sense of duty to protect the lives of Americans; they just feel a sense of duty to protect the lives of terrorists and war criminals who are suspected of killing Americans. Truly, these are noble men and women. Has the McClatchy News Service explained to the American public how, if it is the Guantanamo Bay detention center that allegedly makes Islamist Jihadists angry with the U.S. and causes terrorism, what caused the numerous terrorist attacks against U.S. interests and the mainland U.S. itself from the 1970s to 2001?  Guantanamo Bay was used as a detention center for suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists and war criminals only since 2002; what made the Islamist terrorists angry with the U.S. before 2002? The McClatchy News Service is silent in that matter. Radical Islamist Jihadists are angry with America for the same reason that the Ku Klux Klan was angry with African-Americans and the Nazis were angry with Jews: they have been taught to hate Americans since they were small children and have been raised to kill them. American foreign policy has nothing to do with Radical Islamist Jihadists, as they do what they do because they have been trained in the doctrine of Salafism, Fatah, Takfir, and Jihad. If anyone other than the McClatchy News Service wants to learn about these terms and what they mean, please see the writings of Dr. Walid Phares, PhD., who unlike the McClatchy News Service, saw the 9/11 attacks coming and tried to warn the U.S. government, but was labelled an extremist and a war monger by the leading Middle Eastern Affairs experts from American universities and was ignored. Dr. Phares actually values the life of EVERY American, and has devoted his life to educating the American public about Radical Salafist Islamist Jihadism and how to stop it. And, according to Dr. Walid Phares, news media outlets like the McClatchy News Service, that make America the 'bad guy' and defend the terrorists as the 'poor little guy' ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE TERRORISTS BATTLE PLAN AGAINST AMERICA. The Jihadists plan to use our own news media against us, and they are doing it RIGHT NOW. They have studied it, and learned how to manipulate it, with claims of 'torture,' 'racism,' 'abuse,' 'insensitivity,' and every other politically correct argument. While we have not been studying the terrorists...THEY HAVE BEEN STUDYING US. They know how our educational system works; they know how our news media work; they know how our legal system works; they know how our political system works. And their plan is to manipulate them against us, in order to win the war of IDEAS. This is called PSY-OPS, or "psychological operations," and has been used by militaries for centuries, to misinform, manipulate, and discourage enemy troops, civilians, and governments into making the wrong decisions in a time of war.  Yes, Al Qaeda and the hundred or thousands of other Radical Salafist Islamist Jihadist terrorist groups around the world as studying America right now, learning how to turn us against each other, how to manipulate us, how to misinform us, and how to confuse us, SO THAT WE WILL NOT SEE THE NEXT 9/11 COMING. And the next 9/11 will not be in one or two cities, Dr. Phares predicts; IT WILL BE IN DOZENS OR HUNDREDS OF U.S. CITIES AND MOST LIKELY WILL INVOLVE NUCLEAR, CHEMICAL, OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS as well as conventional weapons, and will make 9/11 look like a Boy Scout cookout. The McClatchy News Service is softening up the American public, telling us that we are the true terrorists, that we must give these poor men who were apprehended by a U.S. military full of ignorant minorities and incompetent women the full rights of American citizens and trials in courts where they cannot possibly be convicted. Therefore, they will go free, and live to plan and to execute the next 9/11 attack upon America. Yes, the McClatchy News Service is on the cutting edge...of setting America up for the next 9/11. Let us hope that that attack does not occur near the McClatchy News Service Headquarters in the U.S..  WHAT WOULD THE TERRORISTS DO WITHOUT THEM?!

The McClatchy news service seems to be telling us that they are on the cutting edge of journalism, that their investigations are thorough and painstaking, and that they know what is best for America. I hate to be technical, but did this cutting edge news service predict the 1993 World Trade Center bombing? Or the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania? Or the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia? Or the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen? Or the 2001 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? Did the McClatchy News Service tell the American public about the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990's, the ones that were ordered to be closed by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267 in 1999? Did they inform the American public that Resolution 1267 also ordered the Taliban to arrest one Osama bin Laden and turn him over to international authorities within 30 days? Did they inform the American public that the Taliban never complied and that the U.S., led by President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeline Albright, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, and Secretary of Defense William Cohen never enforced that resolution, which ensured that Al Qaeda was free to continue to plan the 9/11 attacks and Osama bin Laden would go free? No, the McClatchy News Service, with all of it's resources, all of it's wisdom, all of it's vigilance,  never warned the American public about one single terrorist threat. It never stopped a terrorist attack, and never saved one American life from terrorism. But McClatchy is determined to be the guardian and the savior of suspected unlawful enemy combatants who have the blood of American soldiers, including women and minorities, on their hands. They will tirelessly defend those who ensured that some American children will never see their father or mother again; those children wet their pillows with their tears every night. These unlawful enemy combatants violated the Geneva Conventions by not wearing uniforms, not carrying weapons openly, not having a central commander, not representing a specific state or people, not engaging in lawful guerilla warfare(which is different than terrorist attacks, because they target only military personnel, military targets, or civilian target used to further a war effort, such as fuel refineries, munitions plants, factories, etc..), and by deliberately and willfully targetting civilians with military force in order to achieve political goals(the definition of terrorism); they are WAR CRIMINALS. Did the McClatchy News Service tell the American public why unlawful enemy combatants, who are war criminals according to the Geneva Conventions, cannot be successfully tried in civilian courts? They cannot because when they were captured, in the middle of military operations, U.S. troops did not have time to take fingerprints, collect forensic evidence, or interview witnesses. No military unit has ever done this in the middle of a battle, or in the midst of a foreign country where the majority of the population speak a foreign tongue(Pashto or Arabic) that few American soldiers speak. Therefore, meeting the burden of proof in a civilian court after a battlefield apprehension is virtually impossible.  No, all that the McClatchy News Service is dedicated to is being certain that AFTER Americans are killed by terrorists, AFTER their blood and body parts are strewn about, after their families are devastated and scarred for life, that the terrorist suspects will have all the rights of American citizens, rights never granted in 232 years of American history and jurisprudence, and that they will have the highest possible chance of being exonerated and released by being tried in civilian courts meant for domestic criminals whose burden of proof can never be met by the U.S. military. Thirty seven Guantanamo Bay detainees released by the U.S. military have returned to the battlefield overseas and killed U.S. and NATO coalition soldiers; now their fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, and children must live without a loved one because unlawful enemy combatants and war criminals were released due to insufficient evidence to convict them. The McClatchy News Service has no sense of duty to protect the lives of Americans; they just feel a sense of duty to protect the lives of terrorists and war criminals who are suspected of killing Americans. Truly, these are noble men and women. Has the McClatchy News Service explained to the American public how, if it is the Guantanamo Bay detention center that allegedly makes Islamist Jihadists angry with the U.S. and causes terrorism, what caused the numerous terrorist attacks against U.S. interests and the mainland U.S. itself from the 1970s to 2001?  Guantanamo Bay was used as a detention center for suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists and war criminals only since 2002; what made the Islamist terrorists angry with the U.S. before 2002? The McClatchy News Service is silent in that matter. Radical Islamist Jihadists are angry with America for the same reason that the Ku Klux Klan was angry with African-Americans and the Nazis were angry with Jews: they have been taught to hate Americans since they were small children and have been raised to kill them. American foreign policy has nothing to do with Radical Islamist Jihadists, as they do what they do because they have been trained in the doctrine of Salafism, Fatah, Takfir, and Jihad. If anyone other than the McClatchy News Service wants to learn about these terms and what they mean, please see the writings of Dr. Walid Phares, PhD., who unlike the McClatchy News Service, saw the 9/11 attacks coming and tried to warn the U.S. government, but was labelled an extremist and a war monger by the leading Middle Eastern Affairs experts from American universities and was ignored. Dr. Phares actually values the life of EVERY American, and has devoted his life to educating the American public about Radical Salafist Islamist Jihadism and how to stop it. And, according to Dr. Walid Phares, news media outlets like the McClatchy News Service, that make America the 'bad guy' and defend the terrorists as the 'poor little guy' ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE TERRORISTS BATTLE PLAN AGAINST AMERICA. The Jihadists plan to use our own news media against us, and they are doing it RIGHT NOW. They have studied it, and learned how to manipulate it, with claims of 'torture,' 'racism,' 'abuse,' 'insensitivity,' and every other politically correct argument. While we have not been studying the terrorists...THEY HAVE BEEN STUDYING US. They know how our educational system works; they know how our news media work; they know how our legal system works; they know how our political system works. And their plan is to manipulate them against us, in order to win the war of IDEAS. This is called PSY-OPS, or "psychological operations," and has been used by militaries for centuries, to misinform, manipulate, and discourage enemy troops, civilians, and governments into making the wrong decisions in a time of war.  Yes, Al Qaeda and the hundred or thousands of other Radical Salafist Islamist Jihadist terrorist groups around the world as studying America right now, learning how to turn us against each other, how to manipulate us, how to misinform us, and how to confuse us, SO THAT WE WILL NOT SEE THE NEXT 9/11 COMING. And the next 9/11 will not be in one or two cities, Dr. Phares predicts; IT WILL BE IN DOZENS OR HUNDREDS OF U.S. CITIES AND MOST LIKELY WILL INVOLVE NUCLEAR, CHEMICAL, OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS as well as conventional weapons, and will make 9/11 look like a Boy Scout cookout. The McClatchy News Service is softening up the American public, telling us that we are the true terrorists, that we must give these poor men who were apprehended by a U.S. military full of ignorant minorities and incompetent women the full rights of American citizens and trials in courts where they cannot possibly be convicted. Therefore, they will go free, and live to plan and to execute the next 9/11 attack upon America. Yes, the McClatchy News Service is on the cutting edge...of setting America up for the next 9/11. Let us hope that that attack does not occur near the McClatchy News Service Headquarters in the U.S..  WHAT WOULD THE TERRORISTS DO WITHOUT THEM?!

To njreader101: Wow! What a powerful, big-picture rebuttal to Jihad apologists! Other than some bigotted, misogynistic references (honestly, I'm not sure what to make of those!), you've reminded us all about some basic reasons why the U.S. is morally right to be in a war against terror, and why we should be skeptical of those who wish to shirk our responsibilities. Having said that, though, we must still make the Army, and indeed all government bodies, accountable for their actions. If there are occasions where mistakes have been made, those situations must be remedied. There is no dishonour in admitting, with hind-sight, that a mistake was made. Actually, it would be dishonourable to deny such mistakes. BTW: I'm a Canadian, but I'm absolutely with the U.S.!

To njreader101: Wow! What a powerful, big-picture rebuttal to Jihad apologists! Other than some bigotted, misogynistic references (honestly, I'm not sure what to make of those!), you've reminded us all about some basic reasons why the U.S. is morally right to be in a war against terror, and why we should be skeptical of those who wish to shirk those responsibilities. Having said that, though, we must still make the Army, and indeed all government bodies, accountable for their actions. If there are occasions where mistakes have been made, those situations must be remedied. There is no dishonour in admitting, with hind-sight, that a mistake was made. Actually, it would be dishonourable to deny such mistakes. BTW: I'm a Canadian, but I'm absolutely with the U.S.!

I'm not going to mess around with the philosophy of Gitmo and its ongoing travesty of justice.  But to answer your question "is anybody paying attention..." The answer is probably.  Yes, the affairs at Gitmo should be exposed and those responsible for its operations should be held responsible.  That said. there are, however, other concerns demanding our immediate attention that are a lot closer to home.  For example, how will we make it through next winter what with energy costs escalating by the day?  How can we stay in our homes when we've been led by our noses into debt beyond our abilities to satisfy them?  How can we keep our jobs when it almost costs more to drive to them, than we make in a week?   How are we going to bring our kids (in Iraq) home before that dippie in the white house, and his cohorts, get us involved in another war?  Shall I go on?  But yes, we're reading, but not with the total concern your information deserves for all the reasons given above, not to mention that we have to elect another president to get us out of all the crappy situations the current one has gotten us into, at home, worldwide and the middle-east, plus the war he has planned with Iran.   

to njreader101, May I suggest that the reader, instead of denouncing McClatchy Newspapers, read the series. The series -- at www.mcclatchydc.com/detainees -- is well-sourced and carefully researched, and contains conclusions that should concern any American who believes in the rule of law.  It makes the point, among others, that at least seven of the 66 former detainees interviewed had been working for the pro-American Karzai government at the time they were arrested -- far from any battlefield, long after the fighting had ceased -- but were held for years at Guantanamo without cause or due process. It points out that there was systematic -- and mindless -- abuse of detainees at Bagram and Kandahar (far more than at Guantanamo) and there was almost no punishment meted out to those responsible, even for the deaths of detainees in custody. And it demonstrates that taking detainees to Guantanamo, without charges, without due process, without any prospect of having their day in court, in many cases radicalized them. Finally, those pesidential advisers who argued for  the suspension of the Geneva Conventions did so in a way that ensured there was no accountability from the soldier on the ground to the president for what was done during "interrogations" of detainees.  If you believe the president can suspend all law in wartime, including the international conventions to which the US is a party governing conduct in conflict, then you believe the president is above the law. But in a constitutional democracy, he cannot be.  Further, there is no way you can prove your point that all the detainees held at Guantanamo were terrorists who killed US troops or tried to kill US civilians. To prove any crime, you need a system of arrests and charges, a legal process for trials, and a legal code. The existing codes were suspended by presidentail order, no new code was established, and in response to that legal vacuum, the Supreme Court granted habeas corpus, admittedly not done for prisoners of war ordinarily, to the detainees.  Had they been treated as prisoners of war, and indeed had they been sorted out as specified under Article 5 of the Geneva Convention, a far smaller number would have landed in Guantanamo than the 770 or so sent there. Again, read the series, and then judge. Roy Gutman, Foreign editor McClatchy Newspapers

to njreader101, May I suggest that the reader, instead of denouncing McClatchy Newspapers, read the series. The series -- at www.mcclatchydc.com/detainees -- is well-sourced and carefully researched, and contains conclusions that should concern any American who believes in the rule of law.  It makes the point, among others, that at least seven of the 66 former detainees interviewed had been working for the pro-American Karzai government at the time they were arrested -- far from any battlefield, long after the fighting had ceased -- but were held for years at Guantanamo without cause or due process. It points out that there was systematic -- and mindless -- abuse of detainees at Bagram and Kandahar (far more than at Guantanamo) and there was almost no punishment meted out to those responsible, even for the deaths of detainees in custody. And it demonstrates that taking detainees to Guantanamo, without charges, without due process, without any prospect of having their day in court, in many cases radicalized them. Finally, those pesidential advisers who argued for  the suspension of the Geneva Conventions did so in a way that ensured there was no accountability from the soldier on the ground to the president for what was done during "interrogations" of detainees.  If you believe the president can suspend all law in wartime, including the international conventions to which the US is a party governing conduct in conflict, then you believe the president is above the law. But in a constitutional democracy, he cannot be.  Further, there is no way you can prove your point that all the detainees held at Guantanamo were terrorists who killed US troops or tried to kill US civilians. To prove any crime, you need a system of arrests and charges, a legal process for trials, and a legal code. The existing codes were suspended by presidentail order, no new code was established, and in response to that legal vacuum, the Supreme Court granted habeas corpus, admittedly not done for prisoners of war ordinarily, to the detainees.  Had they been treated as prisoners of war, and indeed had they been sorted out as specified under Article 5 of the Geneva Convention, a far smaller number would have landed in Guantanamo than the 770 or so sent there. Again, read the series, and then judge. Roy Gutman, Foreign editor McClatchy Newspapers

My brother is an officer stationed at GTMO. He has a completely different viewpoint.  America needs to wake up to what NJreader is saying.

It looks like the only way to keep the blow back under control would be to have war crimes trials of the people responsible for the abuse.  For the detainees that were unjustly detained and treated a chance to testify against their tormentors would seem to be the way to keep these people form seeking revenge in other ways.   

The thin Green and Blue line is all that stands in the way of the physical completion of the Real Axis Of Evil : the 0ne forged between those outside  who want to destroy America, and the parasites inside that make a living from the benefits Liberty provides them in order to suppress Her. That is the wayward slick media well-paid professional liars who smear, vilify,  slander  and calumniate  the fine people who shed their blood to protect their right to make oily-tongued idiots of themselves.  Picture your country as a great  ship, which effectively it is, navigating in a hostile sea, in the middle of a very unfriendly host of baddies who want to rip her apart and sink her eventually. Now in the bowels of the ship stand at their posts men and women Holding the Line, or the Hull, ready to Seal the Breach wherever and whenever it occurs, and if necessary go outside  the ship to spear out the baddies regardless of their  sacrosanct rights to practice Holy terrorism. Meanwhile on the upper bridges, comfortably sprawled beside the luxury swimming pool, martini in hand and not a few bimboes at hand, are the Tsk-Tsking 0nes who own the above-mentioned liars on their payroll. To manifest their Righteous Disapproval at the Rights Deprivation by the Wicked in Green and in Blue against the poor Fanatical Murderers who after all are only practicing their sacred Faith-based Duties, they mobilize their ultra heavy audiovisual artillery to fire Dollar-powered Lies against the BreachSEALers, and mobilize their Goons in High Places to restrain and eventually destroy them, and at the same time hire Servants of Iniquity to Preserve and Protect the Righteous Assassins from their deserts so that they can Live and Kill another day. And all this is done under the cover of the American Spirit of Fairness . The famous  Court-Martial in 1945 of the captain of  the  USS Indianapolis  sunk  by  a  Japanese submarine a few months before with appalling loss of life in a shark-infested sea, and the enemy captain called as prosecution witness by the US Navy, is  representative of this Spirit.  All this speaks well of the American sense of Freedom and must be justly honored. But pushed to the Absurd by Malevolent Insiders , it becomes a masochistic suicidal trap for  America.    A democracy is a ship with a hull that can be rusty , shabby or even perforated at places, but inside there are watertight compartments everywhere with responsible little Hanses ready to plug, seal or shut tight at the first trickle or rush of anything that doesn' t have business there, and constantly pump out the seepage.  But what if these brave and selfless little Hanses are handcuffed and stilettoed from behind , or just  discouraged from their patriotism ? One interesting reference is the recent  publication  of  their  own  conceptions  of Patriotism  by  the  rival  Presidential  Candidates.  Pick  your  favorite and don' t miss the obviously dubious double talk , whosever it is.  Yours  after all is a FreeCountry .   The  real  hard  part  is   keeping  it  that  way .  Why don' t they vary a little the mixture of half-truths they serve daily , the Slickies ?  Even the most Gullibler comrade traveller can in the long run find  this Same Old  "BLAME America First " spam diet  p0werfully b0ring  and  gagging  even  the  maggots  . /. PS :  If  this  look  like  a  right-wing extremist  opinion , then  remember  that  if  there  is  a  Left , there' s  bound  to  be  a  Right .  And  Political  Incorrectness  is  RIGHT.           

Njreader and other NeoCon Phares cultists seem to be missing the point of the article. KnightRidder/McClatchey, last I checked, has never pretended to be capable of psychic prediction, nor should they be taken to task for such a "failure".  Instead, they have (mere mortals that they are), simply attempted to live up to the best of journalistic principles, by honestly and thoroughly reporting their observances, about whatever they tackle..in this case, what Guantanamo really is and is not. Those whose frame of reference for journalistic integrity consists soley of the Inquirer-esque format of Fox, can be forgiven their confusion, since any resemblance to either "journalism" or "principle", in such a milieu, is completely accidental.    I'd suggest that, if njreader has a bone to pick, regarding the government failing to take heed of Mr. Phares' premonitions, that he take it up with the government. Meanwhile, decrying the failure to recognize any potential for attack, past or future, circumvents the real issue here..that of whether or not the United States is adhering to its own principles..those described in our founding documents. The excuse-artistry inherent in njreader's rationale..that it wasn't convenient to gather sufficient evidence for whatever alleged crimes had been committed..makes one wonder just why the detainers detained the detainees, in the first place!  Was it nothing more than a case of rounding up anyone and everyone who wasn't clearly identified as "one of us"?   The fact that some may now have been released on the basis of insufficient evidence, only to have joined or re-joined the enemy, would seem to show the folly of such careless evidentiary procedure. Of course, the notion that, among these heinous perpetrators of terror, there may have been many who were not guilty..only caught up in a wide and unforgiving net..seems to be irrelevant, in the mind of njreader. How anyone could justify that, is beyond comprehension. It causes me to ask these folk, just what is is, anyway, that you think you want to defend..if not our most precious principles of government?          

I agree with the entire post by Eisenhower’s kid.  One thing I agree with njreader101 is that there is a “war of ideas” going on which is important. However, in this war of ideas I think that is important to have the moral highground.  Following the rules of law may allow a criminal to escape consequences, but over centuries of time mankind has decided that protecting the innocent is an essential part of justice.  If people were captured on the battlefield as njreader says, then why could not Geneva Convention rules apply?  And if new rules are needed, then go to the Geneva Convention for guidance for new rules.  This gives the US the appearance of sticking by its word, as it is a signee.  The act of making up an entirely new classification of ‘enemy combatant’ serves to make the US look arrogant, and sets a dangerous precedent for mankind.  I say that this plays into the hands of enemies in “the war ideas”.  That “blame America first” line is constantly used to avoid looking at the consequences of the US’s actions.  It doesn’t matter who was wrong first, as much as it does to be on the side of justice and our funding principles.  So in my book, Guantanamo has probably done the US more harm than it has helped.  And if nothing else, it helps to evaluate its effectiveness in the “war on terror”.  And speaking of terror; the idea that there is an attack coming on “dozen’s if not hundreds of American cites”, is a remote scenario.  But the scenario’s more immediate effect is to terrorize Americans into giving up their basic rights, which this country was founded, and to blind us by fear, from questioning government actions.  Terror or fear is not used exclusively by the jhadists.  But it says in the Bible, "He has not given us the spirit of fear,..." By the way njreader101, your line “a U.S. military full of ignorant minorities and incompetent women…”, speaks volumes about your values.  It makes me wonder whether all those American lives that you wish to save are equally important?  But then, what do I know, since I might be one of those “ignorant minorities” you speak of.  Happy Fourth of July! 

I agree with the entire post by Eisenhower’s kid.  One thing I agree with njreader101 is that there is a “war of ideas” going on which is important. However, in this war of ideas I think that is important to have the moral highground.  Following the rules of law may allow a criminal to escape consequences, but over centuries of time mankind has decided that protecting the innocent is an essential part of justice.  If people were captured on the battlefield as njreader says, then why could not Geneva Convention rules apply?  And if new rules are needed, then go to the Geneva Convention for guidance for new rules.  This gives the US the appearance of sticking by its word, as it is a signee.  The act of making up an entirely new classification of ‘enemy combatant’ serves to make the US look arrogant, and sets a dangerous precedent for mankind.  I say that this plays into the hands of enemies in “the war ideas”.  That “blame America first” line is constantly used to avoid looking at the consequences of the US’s actions.  It doesn’t matter who was wrong first, as much as it does to be on the side of justice and our funding principles.  So in my book, Guantanamo has probably done the US more harm than it has helped.  And if nothing else, it helps to evaluate its effectiveness in the “war on terror”.  And speaking of terror; the idea that there is an attack coming on “dozen’s if not hundreds of American cites”, is a remote scenario.  But the scenario’s more immediate effect is to terrorize Americans into giving up their basic rights, which this country was founded, and to blind us by fear, from questioning government actions.  Terror or fear is not used exclusively by the jhadists.  But it says in the Bible, "He has not given us the spirit of fear,..." By the way njreader101, your line “a U.S. military full of ignorant minorities and incompetent women…”, speaks volumes about your values.  It makes me wonder whether all those American lives that you wish to save are equally important?  But then, what do I know, since I might be one of those “ignorant minorities” you speak of.  Happy Fourth of July! 

The problem with njreader, like the Bush administration, and millions like them, is that they judge everyone "guilty", without ascertaining facts.  It's evident in the following sentence by njreader:  "suspected unlawful enemy combatants who have the blood of American soldiers, including women and minorities, on their hands".  They are at once "suspected" and guilty.  In one sentence he has reduced a human being "suspected" of something to a human being with "the blood of American soldiers..women...and children on their hands".  njreader automatically assumes they are guilty.  Therein lies the problem, my friends.  The problem with the Iraq invasion, the "war" on terrorism and the Bush presidency.  Why should anyone believe anything the Bush adminstration says when they have repeatedly lied to the American people and the world?  No WMD's, not Hussein/Al Queda connection, no due process to "suspected" terrorists, no accountability for outing Valerie Plame, circumvention of U.S. law to listen in on U.S. citizens.  All Bush had to do was simply tell the truth and the ENTIRE world would have supported him.  But the systematic lies have made it necessary for citizens with integrity to stand up for the truth.  We simply don't trust Bush.  Among the suspected terrorists at Gitmo were a number of innocent people who spent years of their lives being abused in prison.  Sorry, that's not the America I was raised in.