Geneva Conventions? Not for Gitmo animals

Last week, American leaders postured on the Detainee Treatment Act with many voices thought to be supportive of giving the president ultimate authority as commander in chief; instead they just said no to "torture." We may soon find ourselves without the critical information necessary to keep the nation safe.

In a press conference like no other I've have watched, President Bush let the country know the interrogations of detainees at Gitmo will be a thing of the past if he is not given clear and defined guidelines by Congress. Bad idea, but I understand why he is doing it. Right now interrogators run the risk of being sued or indicted by the thousands of lawyers who represent about 500 enemy combatants.

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The interrogators have watched what has happened to the eight soldiers being held at Camp Pendleton awaiting trial for murder, and they most definitely do not wish to find themselves in the same absurd condition. I have written before of my fear that soon political correctness and lawyers will create an environment in which future enlistees to military and intelligence agencies will look to other careers given the liability that now comes with serving.

The cry from the lawyers, liberals and now John McCain, Lindsey Graham and John Warner sound identical to that of Dean, Pelosi and Kennedy. We must follow the Geneva Convention and please the international courts when deciding how to keep America safe. While the Conventions speak clearly to "uniformed'" enemies that are sponsored by States, we somehow think that treating enemy combatants like members of real armies is appropriate. If these were POWs from Germany, Russia or any recognized country, I would agree that Geneva should apply. However, enemy combatants are linked to terrorism, not countries. They kill innocent men, women and children with no regard for who they are or where they come from. Everyone is a target. Terrorists just want chaos.

We can argue this for years, but do we really want to place the future ability of our interrogators into the hands of the world courts when that world allegedly hates us? I would feel a whole lot safer if we allowed the president to make those decisions, not the U.N. or international courts. Apparently, John McCain disagrees.

McCain of all people knows that harsh treatment works rather well in producing information from uncooperative prisoners. No POW ever criticized the men who "broke" given the treatment they received at the Hanoi Hilton. They know torture works. It is not pleasant, but it's effective.

The revelation that Zubaydah broke after being exposed to cold temperatures and loud music provided by the Red Hot Chili Peppers has the likes of McCain demanding the "torture" stop. The reason? He doesn't want to put our POWs in danger if they are captured by al-Qaida. Is he serious? Our guys would be grateful to receive such treatment. It sure beats losing your head.

Water boarding, sleep deprivation and other tactics are now off limits. We can't be serious. Detainees are gaining weight, have absolute silence during prayer time, receive three square meals a day, two hour of physical fitness time, and have a four-person medical team monitoring their health. They even receive colonoscopies after age 50. All this while the American guards keeping these animals from killing innocent people are having feces and urine thrown on them, being stabbed by the purveyors of peace and being forced to treat their detainees like royalty. Keep in mind if a guard breaks one of the "rules," even by accident, he may face court-martial, dishonorable discharge or even criminal charges that may land him in the brig.

We need to make a decision as a nation. Do we want to be safe? If we do, we better be ready to make some tough decisions and knock off the notion that we will lose the respect of the world if we don't treat these creeps like weekend company. If we continue to show the enemy our kinder, gentler side, they will train their "soldiers" to just sit in their cells and say nothing, knowing all the time the worse thing their captures will do is – well, I'm not sure what at this point. What punishment is acceptable to folks like McCain and Pelosi? Can we talk mean to the detainees? Can we take one of the meals away? Drop the temperature a degree or two?

Make no mistake about it. The actions we are taking are not making our enemy less likely to attack. The enemy is laughing at us, losing respect by the minute as they see us as a weak and extremely divided people. They see us as fat, lazy and not willing to sacrifice for our own safety. We are fighting people who are willing to die in the process of killing us and we want to offer a Big Mac and a Coke for vital information on their future activity? I got your Big Mac right here, McCain.

To me water boarding is great. Sleep deprivation, terrific. Loud music – turn it up.

I would go much further, however. I would give the interrogators whatever they need to get the info we need. They are the professionals. They face these animals each day knowing that they want us dead. They know the information they hold will allow us to keep these murderers from killing more people.

So let's take the gloves off. In the jail cells at Gitmo, the streets of Baghdad and the mountains of Afghanistan. Let's act like we are really at war before we are attacked again.

I personally don't believe it is inevitable that we will be hit again. We can stop future attacks if we have the intel. Heck, we may well have stopped 9/11 if we had taken action against OBL in the 90s, but it is too late now and to blame someone is of no value. Let's control our future. Not Europe, not Russia, not China or the dozens of paper tigers that make up the United Nations. "We the People" are responsible for our future.

If the American people were allowed to vote tomorrow on what we can and cannot use to get information from terrorist detainees, they would overwhelmingly agree to do what it takes. The only dissenting voices would be those who don't believe we have an enemy. I hope it doesn't take another attack to change their vote. Hopefully in November, Americans will vote for the leaders who are willing to wake up, smell the coffee and keep us safe. Anything short of that is just tortured thinking.

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