Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Embarrassed Again To Be an American

So we're finally closing Guantanamo. After more than six years. And now we're asking the rest of the world to offer asylum to prisoners we said were so dangerous that they couldn't be released, or tried in a court of law. For six years. I don't know if this amounts to chutzpah, or stupidity, or arrogance. It's certainly unfathomable. There very well may have been dangerous people imprisoned at Guantanamo. On that point I'm in no position to debate. But for America to convey to the world that these people were the worst of the terrorists out there, and then demand of Australia and Europe to take them in, give them housing, jobs, health insurance and citizenship, and then pretend that the last six years never happened is more than criminal. It's illogical. It's immoral.

4 comments:

earthmonkey said...

I get what you are saying JT. Yes it can make one really angry when people dont take responsibility for what they do, when they brush consequences aside, choosing to only see what is convenient or advantageous to them... But in this instance, i would like to hope that those who were released would be able to leave that part of their past behind, that anger, that pain or sadness. That they will find forgiveness and acceptance in themselves or their community. And they will move towards true freedom, true joy and a genuine connection.

Luuworld said...

yeah, that whole Guantanamo thing is shameful, i try not thinking too much about it, because it pisses me off

J.T. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J.T. said...

Guantanamo, as far as I'm concerned, was the nail in the coffin of America's Higher Moral Ground. It's gone. It's dead. And it will never be resurrected in this generation. America's politicians were fools for thinking that its morality could be financed by the almighty dollar, which by the way, ain't lookin' so mighty anymore.

When my parents immigrated to the US in the 1950s, America was more than a country. It was a metaphor for change. A haven of ideals. Every day, increasingly, it grows harder and harder to see this America. What it's turning into is anyone's guess.