Monday, October 12, 2009

Make sure you're guilty when you go to Guantanamo

From a Slate.com article:

"According to the New York Times, Obama administration officials [are] worried that even if Ahmed was not dangerous when he was first detained, Guantanamo itself might have made him so, turning him against the United States."

Ahmed is one of the a number of Guantanamo detainees who judges have found the government has utterly failed to prove should have ever been detained who must be released immediately. The article is about the fact that they aren't being released. But, the quote struck me. We grabbed an innocent person, held him for a bunch of years in a cage. A judge tells us to let him out and we are worried that since we treated him inhumanely, we now can't can't let him out because he'll try to get back at us?

Did Obama just keep all the crazy Bush people; or, is it something about being in the executive branch that causes people to be stupid? And now, a bit more thought, they're probably right to worry. Had I been sitting in a cage in Cuba since the start of the decade and finally after fight after fight to be heard, been told that there was no reason to hold me even a day, I might have a chip on my shoulder.

The logical conclusion is to banish all falsely accused prisoners to a desert supermax prison for the rest of their lives. We'll just let out the guilty ones after they've served their sentences. They of course are rehabilitated.

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