GITMO: Imaginary Gulag

Judging by the past few days, it appears that our world no longer revolves around the sun. Instead, we are in orbit around Guantanamo Bay.

Of course, any abuses there need to be investigated and addressed. For that matter, any abuses anywhere, in the public or private sector, need to be investigated and addressed. I certainly don't mean to diminish any atrocities that may have occurred at Gitmo.

However, the obsession with the facility recently is bordering on the pathological.

From FOX:

While Vice President Dick Cheney and some lawmakers said Monday that terror suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay are being fed better than U.S. troops in a war zone, another said the detention center is a "national disgrace, an international embarrassment to us and to our ideals, and a festering threat to our security."

"We have not been overly harsh … we have an obligation to treat these individuals as we have been treating them — as enemy combatants," Cheney said during an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, noting that despite cries that the United States is violating the Geneva Conventions, those being held do not qualify for that treaty because they are unlawful combatants operating outside the laws of war.

But "in spite of that they are still treated with respect and dignity," the vice president noted.

"They are a vital source of intelligence information. They've given us useful information that has been used in pursuing our aims and objectives in the War on Terror. I think that whatever one's views might be with respect to Guantanamo, this is an essential part of our strategy for prevailing and winning in the ongoing War on Terror."

...Meanwhile, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the Senate floor Monday that much goes on at the American naval base in Cuba that is unknown to the general public and that the administration's standard line of "trust us" is no longer valid.

"More than three years later, the one thing we know for sure about Guantanamo is that any trust we may have had was misplaced," Leahy said, quoting an administration official as saying the situation in the detention center is "the legal equivalent of outer space."

"Guantanamo has not made our country safer," Leahy said. "It is increasingly clear that the administration's policies have seriously damaged our reputation in the world and that they are making us less safe. The stain of Guantanamo has become the primary recruiting tool for our enemies."

...Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Monday: "My personal feeling is that Guantanamo is just a sign of the problems we're having. From the time of Abu Ghraib, this country has been embarrassed by many minds, humiliated... and Guantanamo is just another series of problems that we have with the whole Iraq policy."

Add Amnesty International's "gulag" stuff and you have quite a chorus of voices calling for Gitmo to be shut down.

For what?

It's clear there is not widespread abuse. Moreover, there's a need for such a facility. If Gitmo closed, a new camp would open in its place. (Maybe Jimmy Carter could build it.)

The outcry over the prison has been exposed as purely political. Its critics want to deal the Bush administration a blow. They seek to embarrass the President, thinking it would be a victory for them to get it shut down. What these people don't understand, what they've failed to understand from the beginning, is that attacking the administration weakens our ability to wage the war on terror.

I'm not suggesting the administration's policies should not be questioned or criticized. I'm suggesting that critiquing be done in a respectful, dignified fashion that does not undermine our war effort or divide us.

Leahy whines that the administration's policies have been a disaster. He says, "Guantanamo has not made our country safer. It is increasingly clear that the administration's policies have seriously damaged our reputation in the world and that they are making us less safe. The stain of Guantanamo has become the primary recruiting tool for our enemies."

Let's face it. The primary recruiting tool for our enemies has been tools like him, not Gitmo. People in government and media who recklessly present an inaccurate picture of what our military is doing endangers us all.

The likes of Leahy, Reid, Kennedy, Michael Moore, and Newsweek have managed to make our country and our men and women on the front lines less safe by creating this imaginary gulag.