“A group of dozens of leading human rights groups has called on President Obama to release photos depicting the alleged abuse of detainees by U.S. personnel overseas.” So reads a story on a Website called Personal Liberty Digest.“The letter signed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch states that in an open society even embarrassing information is disclosed so that those responsible for wrongdoing can be brought to justice,” the story continued. “As disturbing as [the photos] may be, it is critical that the American people know the full truth about the abuse that occurred in their name,” a staff attorney with the ACLU named Amrit Singh said.
Indeed, the information is embarrassing, and the American people must be told the cold, nasty, discomforting truth. At Guantanamo Bay detainees were treated in a manner foreign to the way a truly sensible and civilized people treat enemy combatants, or even common criminals. And the truth must be told. We are, after all, a transparently moral and compassionate society.
At Gitmo these poor misunderstood people are subjected to such horrors as satellite TV complete with an Al Jazeera channel, compelled to work Sudoku puzzles, and run endlessly back and forth on the soccer field and basketball court. They are tortured with English classes and beaten with the harsh content of Arabic newspapers. And because they are Muslims, they are forced to eat Islamically correct meals and endure Muslim prayer periods five times daily.
Folks, this type of barbaric treatment of enemy combatants is a blight on the good name of America.
For God’s sake, please don’t tell the world how stupidly the United States treats war criminals. We must maintain some modicum of our self-respect.
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