Are we on our side or not?

A few weeks ago I said it was time to bring back some old writes and see where they stand now as the economic, political and religious landscapes of the world change.

A rough draft of an article "Gitmo, Gitmo, Gitmo" drew its fair share of liberal fire. Problem is this is not a liberal v. conservative issue. It was under the Bush administration that these detainees began being released not obama.

My position is simply that once these people are detained; they should pretty much be left to rot in there. Jihad’s intent is the destruction of Christianity and Judaism. With these people at large, peace has about as much chance as a gold fish in a piranha tank. (Jihad’s Future).

So what has happened to bring this Gitmo issue back into the lime light? It is not the five going to trail for the 9/11 attacks (though I do have a draft on that); Mullah Abdullah Zakir, a former Gitmo detainee has resurfaced. Only he is now the new top Taiban operations officer in southern Afghanistan. His mission is to counter the US troop surge. Nice huh? A guy we had is now the man leading the attack against the buildup.

According to the Pentagon 18 released detainees have "returned to the fight" and 43 had returned to terrorist activities. That is 61 detainees that we had our mitts on that we have allowed to go back to bring harm to troops abroad. Does this not seem in the least bit counterproductive? I said in Feb that Gitmo will only work if those detained remain detained. As things are turning out; one would be hard pressed to argue that. Closing Gitmo as we build up in Afghanistan is a concern because it was the only detention center designed for long term detainment. Do you mean to tell me then that we are going to bring everyone we detain back here for trail?

The reason Zakir was released was simply because they did not have the evidence needed to convict. This causes a huge issue for the men and women fighting this war under these bureaucratic conditions. Seeing things like this, these men and women know that if they "detain" a person, chances are good they will be back in the fight and that next encounter may not end well for our guys. If they instead put a nice hot 7.62 round through their brain housing group to keep them forevermore out of the fight; they get investigated to determine if the act was justified. The same attorneys that are trying these Muslim Extremists are trying our troops. Many say this war is not winnable. Under these rules, this war is not winnable though it very well could be. To again quote Cheney; "The United States needs to not so much be loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes that requires us to take actions that generate controversy." Hell, Americans do not respect America right now and we think fighting a kinder and gentler war is the way to go about this. To try to convict and not kill your enemy? That will not work if our state prisons are releasing convicts because they cannot afford to house them. This simply means that they will be released back to the fight no matter what; convicted or not! Who do we really think we are fooling here?

We are struggling to put these 9/11 masterminds on trail that have all but admitted their roll in killing 3000 Americans but we have tried and convicted Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins for killing one Iraqi civilian in no time flat. Are we on our own side or not?

We will either learn to take the gloves and get down to business or we can continue to run in these same circles of doing the same thing over and over while we expect different results and better outcomes.

I am not saying this Marine Sgt was right in his actions but when you look and the results so far, one Iraqi man’s life has more value than the 3000 American lives lost on the 9/11 attacks. This does not have to be this difficult. Those captured need to remain out of the picture until such a time that this Muslim Extremist threat against the American way of life is neutralized. If they spend a life time "detained"; so be it. It is better that the world understands we mean business. This Mr. Nice Guy crap has got to stop. General Black Jack Pershing realized that respect meant taking the issues Muslim Extremists bring forth seriously and acting in a manner in which they can relate to garners both respect and positive results. Today his actions would have gotten him jailed, yet following his actions there was not another Muslim Extremist attack on Americans for 42 years. We have grown weak in our resolve to protect our way of life because we taken it for granted for too long.

"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." The question that persists is whether we are truly interested and committed to bringing this war to an end. Under these political conditions we are interested in neither committing to it nor bringing closure to it because we lack the courage, nerve and resolve to do what needs to be done. Instead our interest is being "liked" by other nations as opposed to being once again respected by the world.

-T