Prisoners of War

More from the military tribunals against alleged terrorists held at the Guantanamo military prison in Cuba from the Washington Post.



"Abd Al Aziz Sayer Uwain Al Shammeri, a Kuwaiti professor of Islamic studies, questioned the tribunal's presumption that he was an al Qaeda member, an accusation that the tribunal based on three facts: that a version of his name was on an international terrorist list, that he traveled to Afghanistan in September 2001 and that he tried to cross into Pakistan without a visa. He said millions of Arabs linked to the same Saudi tribe share his last name, and that he traveled to Afghanistan to teach the Koran as a Muslim duty."

And then:

"Detainee attorneys also contend that tribunal authorities select the information they consider. Al Hajj, a Bosnian Muslim clergyman originally from Algeria, was arrested in October 2001 based on an FBI tip that he and others were plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo. The Bosnian Supreme Court ruled in January 2002 that there was no credible evidence that he and five others had hatched such a plot. The day they were released, they were immediately taken into custody by U.S. authorities."

I don't even know what to say. I realize that a handful of these men may turn out to be actual, factual terrorists. But in the mean time, what about those who aren't? What about those who've had they're lives literally ripped from their hands? At the risk of sounding like a broken record, how are we more concerned with making sure gays and lesbians don't have the legal right to marry? This is the order of our priorities?

Oh that's right, they're Muslims. They're just lucky we didn't round them all up. Give 'em hell, Mr. President.

Give 'em hell.