[Vision2020] Gitmo

[Andreas Schou]

> Andreas, what happened to the rights of all the dead people and their
> families that were killed on the 9/11? How about those people forced to jump
> from a 100 story building to their death because of actions by the
> terrorists your sympathize with?

Donovan, the 9/11 hijackers are dead. They've been dead since 9/11.
Justice can't reach them.

> How about the rights of the people that were alive with their flesh burnt off as they slowly
> wait for their death after the 9/11 attack, they have no rights?

The dead don't 'want' anything. Were they alive, they wouldn't be
crying for the blood of random Taliban foot soldiers, Kashmir
insurgents, chauffeurs, and miscellaneous Afghan poppy farmers.

> What happened to their rights, Andreas?

> I don't see you squawking about the children left without a mother
> or fathers because of these terrorists?

Donovan, neither you nor I have control over the actions of
terrorists. Eighteen dead men caused the deaths of 3,000 others, and
no amount of vengeance will bring those people back. The best we can
hope for is perfect justice in the afterlife.

But until that point, we have to administer our flawed, limping system
of mortal justice. We have a system in place to prevent the punishment
of innocents; a system that has gone horribly awry. We've become the
agent forr tribal vendettas, tortured people who had nothing to do
with al-Qaida, and compromised our principles in service of ... what?

What have we actually gained, other than an immense legal quagmire?

> Do they get to appeal three, six,eight times, the judgment rendered against them by this
> monsters?

I don't control the actions of terrorists. I do control the actions of
the United States government.

>You
> show no outcry for them. You show more concern and empathy for the 170
> terrorists that killed our people, then for the sick injustice done against
> their victims. Why is that exactly, Andreas?

Because I can't bring them back. Neither can you. Indefinite torture
and detention doesn't change the past and it doesn't control the
future. We can't prevent future terrorist attacks by chaining up, at
best, al-Qaida grunts. In the meantime, we're losing our grip on what
makes us Americans: a willingness to give up our lives in exchange for
our liberty and national integrity.

-- ACS