It looks as if the Obama Administration is planning to continue the farcical military tribunals at Guantanamo. There are also signs that the administration’s planned closure of the facility is also running into obstacles, with the funding required to close it being recently dropped from the $83.4 billion emergency war funding bill – which has led to reports that the White House is floating the idea in Congress of holding detainees on US soil indefinitely and without trial.
Regarding the administration’s decision to legally challenge the release of photographs documenting prisoner abuse by US personnel, Senator John McCain is supporting the President’s decision despite the fact that he was tortured while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam and has, in the past, been very vocal about US culpability with regards to the use of torture.
His rationale? The release of the photographs would “…have given help to the enemy in the psychological side of the war…” Coming from a man that was tortured and held captive for years, such utter hypocrisy is stunning to say the least. Then again, that’s the sort of luxury you have when you’re the Cowboys, not the Indians.
To be honest, we can justify just about anything. How many Japanese Americans and Canadians were thrown into internment camps during the Second World War? Of course, we have since apologized, and in the case of the United States the import of that apology is of significance being that the most highly decorated regiment in the entire history of the United States remains the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, most of whom had family that were interned while they were fighting in Europe. Mind you, 20 of the 21 Medals Of Honor awarded members of the 442nd would not occur until 1998 due to a study commissioned in 1993 to investigate racial discrimination in the awarding of medals.
Go for broke indeed.
