They are trying to justify throwing away the Bill of Rights and their total lack of courage. They are trying to rationalize and normalize their cowardliness.

As I once said to a neighbor to wanted to know if I wanted to fight terrorists in my little town: it would be cheaper, a lot more convenient, and the food is better.

*shrug* The World is insane.

Personally, I think the real fear is that after public trial, people are going to discover what non-threats the majority of people detained at Guantanamo really are, and the Hedgemony will be publicly embarrassed by their panic.

Yup, except that the Hedgemony have absolutely zero shame and so will feel no embarrassment. They have had more than ample opportunity to prove this. One only has to look at Bushmoron, Darth Cheney, or Failin Palin (and her current book tour) to see that. They don’t even grasp the most basic fundamentals of Irony! Bushmoron didn’t even have the intelligence to be embarrassed when an Iraqi threw his shoes at him. What can you expect? 😆 Their loyal sycophantic followers are no different, just several degrees dumber.

If any of these guys escaped from the MCC in New York, they would find them in the spring when the bodies come to the surface. New York can be its own kind of prison for people who don’t know where to go and where not to go. Goatherders from Afghanistan have the would survival potential of pizza at a frat party in the City.

Anyone can live safely in New York, after they learn the rules, but if you don’t know the rules, and don’t have a guide, you are in real trouble. Most US cities are like that.

The wingers can’t figure that they and their fear are empowering the terrorists. They are an integral part of the success of terrorism throughout the world, and a key element in the plans of al Qaeda and other groups. The groups are depending on overreaction by authorities to provide them with the proof of their wild claims. The actions of the Hedgemony have pushed away friends and potential allies were are repulsed by the irrational fear that radiates from the wingnuts.

The Illinois facility that is being looked at as a location for many of the detainees is a prime example of the stupidity of political paranoia. It was built by the state to house the increase in prison populations caused by “getting tough on crime”, but sits mostly empty because they couldn’t come up with the money to staff it without raising taxes. California did the same thing on Otay Mesa East of San Diego. The money was found to build it, but no one considered the cost of staffing. The local officials want the Feds to take over because it means jobs, but the political paranoids are against bringing the “worst of the worst” to the US. I have supreme confidence that a city the size of Chicago is more than capable of producing people who really qualify to be called “the worst of the worst” when the small cities in Western New York can produce them.

Personally, I think the real fear is that after public trial, people are going to discover what non-threats the majority of people detained at Guantanamo really are, and the Hedgemony will be publicly embarrassed by their panic.

The thing I like best about bringing the Gitmo detainees to NY for a legitimate courtroom trial is that complies with the Sixth Amendment (and presumably Article III Sec. 2 as well). If we obey our own laws in the process of trying the accused, it means we are at least somewhat closer to being a civilized people, and if that doesn’t matter to us, it matters to much of the world. Military commissions are an open invitation to show trials. I think we’re better than that, and I think the genuine perpetrators are virtually certain to get what’s coming to them through legitimate due process in courts of law.

Greenwald says DoJ’s plans in using military commissions are to get a 100 percent conviction rate, clearly not appropriate in a situation in which nearby people were rounded up or turned over to U.S. troops just to collect the rewards. We get no points for confining the genuinely innocent along with the guilty.

– Badtux the Easily Amused Penguin
.-= last blog ..The creative process #2 =-.