Guantánamo Bay

Guantánamo Bay is a military base located on the soil of a hostile nation.

Lets get a few things straight. A military base is under military control and thus subject to military law.

If a civilian speeds through Fort Sill, Oklahoma, you won't be ticketed by the Oklahoma State Police. You will be arrested by the Military Police and will be subject to the penalties of the United States Military because the rules on a military base are DIFFERENT than the rules of the civilian world.

We haven't had a lot of experience with a military outpost on hostile foreign soil but the rules there are even MORE stringent. This is because the foreign power is doing all they can to remove the base. So we make the rules harsh, even draconian by most standards. But this is because of something so many of you 'armchair social theorists' don't seem to get.

Most of us live in a real world where the bad guys want to kill us!

Those 'harsh' sounding rules are all that stand between us and death. So please understand that the normal rules that you folks are used to don't always apply everywhere we would like them to.

But isn't the military's main priorty to protect the constitution? What about the Geneva convention? We are not in a declared war per se, so how can the US justify this? Is there no rule or international law this country follows for prisoners?

When the Taliban first took US soldiers prisoner, the first thing the Americans demanded was humane treatment for the US prisoners according to the Geneva Convention. Yet when the US took Taliban prisoners, some were killed inside of a trailer shot full of holes and others were wisked away to Guantonomo Bay never to be seen again. How long is that going to go on? I've heard the prisoners are commiting suicide. Soon, anti-Bush Americans will be classified as terrorists and they too will be wisked away to Guantonomo Bay.

Rule of Law
Seems that the USa Govt. demands that we follow all the laws but they don't have to.

The Military
They swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the USA.
Why aren't the doing that at Q Bay?

That is what anyone who doesn't watch FN would like to know. I can't help but notice that the entire Constitution and the Declaration of Indepence is under seige by this admininstration and it's supporters, which by coincidence happens to include the military. They want to change and/or abolish everything and not for the best IMO.

It feels like our country has been invaded and we didn't even see it coming. Now all we can do is react to the rightwing onslaught.

And uh... my take on Guantonomo bay is.....who's going to stop the US/Bush from doing what ever the begeezus it wants to do, where ever it wants to do it in and to who ever it wants to do it to? They keep proving this point over and over.

Super Power
The Golden Rule. He who has the most gold rules. Also, GW, the Commander In Chief has the most power Military on the planet and the most nukes. GW was appointed by God and gets instructions straight from God. Guess the people better bow.

You who haven't been in the military don't seem to understand the sacrifices that those who served in the military make in joining.

The first is that while IN the military you DO NOT have all the rights of a normal American citizen.

Although the military is the defender of the Constitution, the active members of the military are not always afforded all the benefits and protections of said document.

It may be hard for y'all to understand this, but the men and women of our armed forces volunteer to put themselves in a system that does this. This goes to show the dedication of the young people of this country.

Just to give you an example or two:

A friend of mine in the Navy was stationed on the USS Sierra. He was of the Wiccan religion as were a number of his shipmates. He wanted permission to use a storage room to hold services during one of their High holidays. The Captain denied them permission due to the "Possible effects on crew morale"
Freedom of Religion: Curtailed due to military necessity.

Free speech? Well you can shoot the breeze with your buddies about your disagreement with the war all you want, but you can't send an article to the newspaper about why you think the war is bad.

The men and women that defend the country are the Constitutions most vigorous defenders, probably because they don't take those rights for granted after being denied some of their benefits.

Fedral, the prisoners at Guantanamo are not members of the military. Many of them would seem to have been randomly captured in Afghanistan. And the UCMJ is the biggest disgrace the "leader of the free world" has to offer. A system where one can receive 45 days extra duty, reduction in rank, and loss of half pay for three months for trivialities, and at the same time allows commanders to overlook their soldiers criminal acts of spousal and child abuse is not justice.

An example of the UCMJ process.
But we have to get him for something!

Screwups.


I have been in the military. Most that are there are morons; similar to the right wing fascists on this board. The Military is the Police Force for the Govt. protecting property rights, engaging in teritorial expansion and enforcing Capitalism for the Multi-Corps. That is their basic mission. All this talk of freedom is pure crap. Study history.

I think most of the soldiers we have in the military at the moment did not join for love of country, but rather as a last resort for money and an education. The US military is now going into Mexico to recruit Latinos to go to Iraq. So it's not really about loyalty to country is it?

Yup, or, in my case, because the military will pay off student loans.


Source please?

Justice?


http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1127-08.htm

Another example of the US going against the standards they claim to uphold, which is done whenever it's convenient.

If this happened to American soldiers...
there would be an uproar over it.