Wednesday, January 23, 2002 |
13:47 - Guantanamo Politics and the New Divide
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It's really weird how since 9/11, op-ed columnists and the various warbloggers (and myself) have been pointing out the philosophical differences between America and Europe-- and how the world since the attacks seems to be sifting out into an "America+Israel vs. Europe+the Arab Nations" landscape. Sure, ostensibly the Europeans and everybody else condemns the attacks... but there's been an extraordinary amount of grousing from across the Atlantic since then about how the US has gone about kicking ass in Afghanistan.
Now the latest refrain is about how we're torturing and humiliating the al Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Despite all kinds of assurances and proof that we're not, including willingly inviting in the International Red Cross to inspect Camp X-Box, Europeans still seem to be under the impression that the US has gone completely off the deep end-- that we should be treating the prisoners as captured soldiers, giving them preferential treatment that would please Amnesty International-- or better yet, turning them over to the Karzai government so they can be dealt with in the Afghan legal system. (Uh huh.)
But it's good to see that we do have some good non-American minds on our side. This interview with Torontonian professor of Political Science Clifford Orwin pretty much amounts to the love-thy-neighbor interviewer handed his ass on a plate covered with a thick layer of rich sarcasm sauce.
Meanwhile, The Mirror of London ran this editorial full of screeching demands that Tony Blair withdraw all support for the bloodthirsty Americans and their brutal, Nazi-like, death-camp treatment of the poor innocent prisoners. It's pretty damn funny to read in and of itself, but what's even funnier is that the editorial was followed up by a reader poll asking British readers whether they condemned the Americans' treatment of the prisoners, as the article urged.
The results? 91% said NO.
So I guess the moral of the story here is that the liberal media everywhere is the biggest enemy of the expedient elimination of the terrorist threat, and common people everywhere are fed up with hearing how our biggest concern should be that the prisoners get culturally-appropriate meals and a banner on a watchtower showing the direction of Mecca.
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