Gitmo

How about this headline:
Guantanamo Detainees May Be Released in U.S. also Here

Oh goodie! Our favorite group of "freedom fighters" are coming to a state penitentiary near you, or maybe just to a city near you.

Of course we know that our dear friends over at the ACLU will most likely take the side of justice on this matter. They most assuredly will see that Saif, Sulaiman, Mahfouz, Ridwua, and all their buddies are treated with the utmost respect and that they get all of their due process rights. I can't wait until we start to learn that our soldiers have failed to follow due process from the start and that each and everyone will be honorably released without charge. Justice is served!

Really though, detention camps are a part of war. We are at war still, are we not? So, when we get into a skirmish, firefight, or outright battle with the enemy, what should we do?

1. Order soldiers to kill everyone on site.
2. Take prisoners & send them to the US on a one way ticket (hmmm eerily familiar)
3. Catch and release on the battlefield like it were a leisurely fishing trip
4. Operate detention facilities locally, close enough for other terrorist cells to effectively target them; or
5. Maintain a humane, non-US detention facility away from the war zone: aka Club Gitmo

Ok time's up, what did you choose? Biased survey? Darn right. This is not a difficult decision. Again let's look back at history; prisoner of war camps have been operated by every war time president dating all the way back. Why? To extract information from the prisoners about the enemy's plans and whereabouts, to ensure that those taken do not continue to fight against you, and sometimes to leverage against the enemy in negotiations (this last one doesn't apply much anymore).

This from NPR February 23, 2009 · "U.S. officials sent Abdallah Saleh Al-Ajmi from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to Kuwait, where he was released. He later drove a truckload of explosives into an Iraqi army base."

At the end of the day none of us wants to see one of these men released into our country. We do not want them in our prison system with access to the dregs of our society to recruit them to their unholy cause. Most of all we cringe at the thought of another attack carried out or coordinated by someone who is safely locked up right now, or should have been.