Can't Help Myself

I' m sorry, I just can't help myself.

In the wake of the Bush Administration's decision to afford the detainees at Gitmo the protections of the Geneva Convention, USA Today again allowed its readers to comment. Perhaps predictably, the posts recommended euthanizing the detainees, whom they termed "terrorists" and "proven enemies" of the US, and suggested that "we treat them like they treat us." Now, I realize that this type of forum tends to the extremes of the political spectrum and that USA Today's demographic occupies the farther ends of the Bell Curve but a few point are worth making:

• I am not sure that the behavior of a bunch of lawless jihadists is a benchmark for the behavior of U.S soldiers. They are blinded by a religious fervor that divides the world into believers and infidels. The latter being pretty much disposable. We are a nation of laws with, at least in theory, a respect for the dignity of all life.
• While you may call them what you will, the vast majority of the Gitmo detainees have never been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime. While the Administration would have us believe they are the "worst of the worst," no one has actually bothered to try and prove that in the past four years. ( I guess they want us to take their word for it. That system works ... in Russia.)

Perhaps the bigger point here is that, were you a Martian seeking to learn about the United States and you looked at this group of webposts, I suspect that the differences between us and our so called enemies would be almost imperceptible.