Gitmo

Now that Gitmo’s closing, I wonder how long it will be before we can have a reasonable discussion on the topic. My guess is, “not for a while.” Critics of U.S. policy as it concerns the prison at Guantanamo Bay still describe it as a “notorious” prison, as if it’s the American version of la Cabana, with Donald Rumsfeld playing the role of Che Guevara. Torture was rampant. Mistreatment abound!

This strikes me as particularly silly. Gitmo was never the equivalent of Abu Ghraib. Keeping prisoners in isolation is not torture (especially when you’re doing it to protect other prisoners and guards working the prison). Questioning prisoners for hours and hours on end isn’t torture. Sleep deprivation isn’t torture. Messing with the thermostat isn’t torture. Force feeding a hunger striking prisoner isn’t torture–it’s the opposite of torture. There wasn’t even any waterboarding at Gitmo.

Could the DOD have done a better job of processing the terrorists (I’m sorry, “suspected” terrorists) captured and held in Cuba? Yes. They could have. But all of the overheated rhetoric about prisoner mistreatment has done little to shine any light on what has actually happened at Guantanamo Bay or given us an idea of how to, y’know, question/punish terrorists (I’m sorry, “suspected” terrorists) captured on the battlefield.

But hey, at least we closed down Gitmo! That’s sure to buy us some happy feelings in the middle east, right? That’s good for stopping, what, thousands of young, radicalized Muslims from embracing Jihad? Hundreds of thousands? One, BILLION, young, radicalized Muslims? Obama be praised.