Constructive criticism would offer alternatives. What’s yours?
First, let me suggest that we are dealing with something that we (United States) has never dealt with before.
The closest analogy is keeping prisoners during the duration of a war, and that's not a close analogy because it seems likely that this war will never end, or at least last for generations.
The Bush administration resisted any type of adjudication of the status of our prisoners in Guantanamo until the US judicial system forced their hand. This made sense when the prisoners were freshly captured, and might still have useful information. It made sense when we were still trying to figure things out.
But 3 1/2 years later, the time has come to go to Plan B, whatever Plan B is.
One might think that we are dealing with something that nobody in the world has dealt with before, but that's not exactly true. The Russians deal with Muslim terrorists in Chechenya, the Indians vis-a-vis Kashmir, the Chinese vis-a-vis Uighur separatists, etc., etc., etc. Muslim terrorists create conflict all over the world.
I would suggest an international conference of experts on terrorism and possibly an international treaty on the treatment of captured terrorists, if that could be worked out. Perhaps an internationally run prison? Or at least an understanding among the more significant nations as to what constituted humane confinement.
The first step is talking about it, not sweeping it under the rug. And the Bush administration does a terrible job of presenting its case when it comes to tough choices. "My way or the highway" doesn't work when it comes to world opinion. |
