Guantanamo......
Julie directed my attention to this NY Times article via The Drudge Report. I was interested in perusing it mainly because my good friend Gen. Tom Hill [photo] is quoted several times. Tom is the commander of SouthCom, the major command for Central and South America and under which the Guantanamo Prison falls.
The article is worth a read, though lengthy, and for the most part lays out the facts and both sides of the opinion about the prison facility. But...being the NY Times, one gets the feeling that the opinions of choice are those on the negative side. The report cites a litany of evidence from the lack of useful intelligence information that some say comes from the prison, to abuse, to the innocents being held.
However, as the authors lay out their negative comments, the facts keep shooting them in the feet. Such as the fact that at least 5 of the 57 Afghan detainees released have returned to the battlefield as Taliban commanders or fighters. One is now a notable commander known to be responsible for 13 deaths in Afghanistan including two aid workers. Or the fact that for all of the purported lack of intelligence, the so called 20th hijacker, Mr. Kahtani, was finally smoked out after lengthy interrogation. And one of the abuse cases cited is comical. A poor detainee was abused by being questioned for 20 hours in front of an air conditioner. Horrible. I'll bet any U.S. soldier serving in the heat of summer in the Iraqi desert would volunteer for such abuse.
As Tom Hill sums it up...."We weren't sure in the beginning what we had; we're not sure today what we have," said Gen. James T. Hill, the head of the Army's Southern Command. "There are still people who do not talk to us. We could have the keys to the kingdom and not know it."
So why is there any discussion? Perhaps the real debate should be, "do we shoot ten of these criminals for every American murdered in Iraq"?
Julie directed my attention to this NY Times article via The Drudge Report. I was interested in perusing it mainly because my good friend Gen. Tom Hill [photo] is quoted several times. Tom is the commander of SouthCom, the major command for Central and South America and under which the Guantanamo Prison falls.
The article is worth a read, though lengthy, and for the most part lays out the facts and both sides of the opinion about the prison facility. But...being the NY Times, one gets the feeling that the opinions of choice are those on the negative side. The report cites a litany of evidence from the lack of useful intelligence information that some say comes from the prison, to abuse, to the innocents being held.
However, as the authors lay out their negative comments, the facts keep shooting them in the feet. Such as the fact that at least 5 of the 57 Afghan detainees released have returned to the battlefield as Taliban commanders or fighters. One is now a notable commander known to be responsible for 13 deaths in Afghanistan including two aid workers. Or the fact that for all of the purported lack of intelligence, the so called 20th hijacker, Mr. Kahtani, was finally smoked out after lengthy interrogation. And one of the abuse cases cited is comical. A poor detainee was abused by being questioned for 20 hours in front of an air conditioner. Horrible. I'll bet any U.S. soldier serving in the heat of summer in the Iraqi desert would volunteer for such abuse.
As Tom Hill sums it up...."We weren't sure in the beginning what we had; we're not sure today what we have," said Gen. James T. Hill, the head of the Army's Southern Command. "There are still people who do not talk to us. We could have the keys to the kingdom and not know it."
So why is there any discussion? Perhaps the real debate should be, "do we shoot ten of these criminals for every American murdered in Iraq"?
