Issue:

This is a response to a pledge issued on the ACLU website <http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/closeguantanamo.html> calling on Americans to wear orange in protest of Guantánamo Bay.  The world we live in is truly in a sad state of affairs.  Unfortunately this state makes places like GITMO necessary and prudent.  You cannot treat enemy combatants like American citizens and bring them into our justice system so that the ACLU and other activist groups can use their lawyers to vindicate them.  It is regrettable that some of the people being held at GITMO are probably innocent.  It is even more regrettable that by holding them there we are not giving them the constitutional liberties that we hold dear.  The underlying fact here is that most if not all of these people are NOT AMERICANS.  On top of that the countries they are from and groups that they are “suspected” of belonging to do not hold our truths to be self evident.  They want to run their countries under their laws in accordance with their own social mores and folkways.  That is all well and good and in a perfect world they should be free to do just that.  The problem is that some of these leaders are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses known to man.  Many of these infractions were planned and or carried out by the thugs being detained at Guantánamo Bay.

Belief:

            At the end of the day Guantánamo Bay is under constant scrutiny.  From all reports these detainees are treated with respect, well fed, and as even Michael Moore would testify to, they are given better medical care than most Americans.  So don’t go searching your closet to find that old orange sweater from Halloween.  Because that is what this is, a masquerade.  I believe in freedom.  It does not make me happy at all that these people are being held against their will.  In the end I am selfish.  My desire not to be blown up supersedes my desire to see my freedoms extended to people who are, or are believed to be, enemy combatants.  Freedom is an inalienable right, but rights only exist until they infringe upon the rights of others.  If you hang out with people that blow stuff up I don’t want you walking down my street.  Pledge to wear whatever you want, other than orange, on January 11^th.

Petition Amendment:

            I had to append this petition to say that I am not in support of the current hearings that were announced today 2-11-08.  If we kill these people we are no better than they are.  First of all they get off easy, they will believe they are being martyred and will be welcomed into the loving arms of their God.  Holding people that have not been given due process is one thing.  Sending them to the chopping block after a military tribunal is another.  On some level we all want vengeance, but true strength stems from rising above that anger and hate to do what’s right.