Pragmatism At Work
Sometimes good, solid ethical and/or moral reasons for engaging in conduct or refraining from conduct just doesn't do the job. Sometimes pure pragmatism has to step in, and I'm beginning to think that's what will finally cause this nation to shutter the detention center in Guantanamo Bay and halt those despicable military tribunals. That's why this article in today's Los Angeles Times lifted my spirits just a little.
Critics of the war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay have consistently assailed the coerced confessions that may be used as evidence against the defendants and have repeatedly charged that the prisoners' severe isolation causes mental illnesses that make them unable to aid in their own defense.
Now, the critics add, evidence has emerged to show that the government advised interrogators to destroy their notes to evade legal consequences for their actions.
OK, this is just old news, especially by today's internet-based standards. It's in the rest of the article that we find the real meat in the story, and we find an unlikely heroine in the midst of it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony Tuesday about the treatment of prisoners at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and demands that all U.S. interrogators renounce coercive techniques.
"Cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners under American control violates our nation's laws and values," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat chairing the committee.
"It damages America's reputation in the world and serves as a recruitment tool for our enemies," she said. "Perhaps most importantly, it has also limited our ability to obtain reliable and usable intelligence to help combat the war on terror, prevent additional threats and bring to justice those who have sought to harm our country."
Feinstein and the federal lawyers and agents who addressed the committee called for the shutdown of Guantanamo and the transfer of suspects' trials to U.S. federal courts.
Imagine that: Sen. Feinstein finally doing the right thing. And her reasoning, while pragmatic (for the most part) is sound. Everything connected with the detention center is contrary to what this nation is supposed to stand for, but we've gotten more than just a black eye for it. We've also managed to give terrorists a good recruitment tool. We've also made it impossible to get clean convictions of those who might very well have been involved in 9/11.
While it certainly is not unexpected that such DFH groups as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch want Guantanamo Bay shut down, to hear Sen. Feinstein call for that is an indication that perhaps the glacier is finally moving.
Critics of the war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay have consistently assailed the coerced confessions that may be used as evidence against the defendants and have repeatedly charged that the prisoners' severe isolation causes mental illnesses that make them unable to aid in their own defense.
Now, the critics add, evidence has emerged to show that the government advised interrogators to destroy their notes to evade legal consequences for their actions.
OK, this is just old news, especially by today's internet-based standards. It's in the rest of the article that we find the real meat in the story, and we find an unlikely heroine in the midst of it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony Tuesday about the treatment of prisoners at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and demands that all U.S. interrogators renounce coercive techniques.
"Cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners under American control violates our nation's laws and values," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat chairing the committee.
"It damages America's reputation in the world and serves as a recruitment tool for our enemies," she said. "Perhaps most importantly, it has also limited our ability to obtain reliable and usable intelligence to help combat the war on terror, prevent additional threats and bring to justice those who have sought to harm our country."
Feinstein and the federal lawyers and agents who addressed the committee called for the shutdown of Guantanamo and the transfer of suspects' trials to U.S. federal courts.
Imagine that: Sen. Feinstein finally doing the right thing. And her reasoning, while pragmatic (for the most part) is sound. Everything connected with the detention center is contrary to what this nation is supposed to stand for, but we've gotten more than just a black eye for it. We've also managed to give terrorists a good recruitment tool. We've also made it impossible to get clean convictions of those who might very well have been involved in 9/11.
While it certainly is not unexpected that such DFH groups as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch want Guantanamo Bay shut down, to hear Sen. Feinstein call for that is an indication that perhaps the glacier is finally moving.
Labels: Guantanamo Bay, Justice
posted by Diane at 10:00 AM
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