The war on terror is really much more than just an American war; it is not just the United States who has been attacked by Muslim extremists. We know that Israel has been under attack for years, and thousands of innocent people have lost their lives at the hands of barbarians so dedicated to their cause that they are willing to kill themselves along with their “targets of opportunity.” We know that Russian schools and theaters have been targets, planes from numerous countries hijacked and even cruise ships have been taken hostage. In spite of overwhelming evidence that the war on terror deserves a world-wide response and unconventional methods to confront it, the American political left seeks to obstruct every administration strategy to locate, destroy, or detain terrorists. If we evaluate the actions and comments of these detractors to the war on terror, one can only conclude that such people are liars and hypocrites. Placing himself squarely in the camp of such liberal un-American groups as Michael Ratner’s Center for Constitutional Rights, demagogue Patrick Leahy (D, VT) recently made a statement regarding the al-Qaeda detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Here are a few snippets of what he had to say:

“The Administration’s policies on detainees are clearly not working, and the Administration does not have a coherent theory for how to proceed.”

“If the Administration had applied the Geneva Conventions from the start, as former Secretary of State Powell strongly urged it to do, we would not be in the mess we are in today. Combatants who merited POW status could have been held for the duration of active hostilities. Those who did not meet the POW standards could be prosecuted under our existing criminal laws, or for violating the laws of war.”

“The net effect of all of these problems is that 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. President Bush often speaks of spreading democratic values across the Middle East, but Guantanamo is not a reflection of the values that he encourages other nations to adopt. The United States has often criticized other nations for operating secret prisons, where detainees are hidden away and denied any meaningful opportunity to contest their detention. Now we have our own such prisons. Even if the Administration fails to see the hypocrisy in this situation, the rest of the world does not.”

“Guantanamo Bay – along with Abu Ghraib – is an international embarrassment to our nation and to our ideals, and it remains a festering threat to our security. America was once viewed as a leader in human rights and the rule of law, but Guantanamo has undermined our leadership, damaged our credibility and drained the world’s goodwill for America at alarming rates. Even our closest allies cannot condone the policies embraced by this government, not to mention the significant damage that has been caused by allegations and proven incidents of detainee abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo. These are not the policies of a great and just nation like ours, and this is not the American system of justice.”

The Senator’s claims present an astonishing view of what the political left stands for. He argues for accommodation for the worst killers in world history and according them the status as prisoners of war. For the uninformed reader, such a status would recognize these murdering thugs as military combatants — and they are NOT affiliated with any nation’s armed force. Leahy’s statement is also interesting because while he claims that Gitmo has failed to make our nation safer, he conveniently overlooks the fact that incarcerated terrorists pose absolutely NO threat to the safety of any American.

If there is a “stain of Guantanamo,” it is that the American political left has used it to elevate its own role to that of spokesman for terrorist activities. Claiming their concern for “human rights,” Senator Leahy and people just like him actually encourage terrorist — insurgent activities. Terrorists are not entirely stupid; they realize that when the political left speaks out against administration policies in the war on terror, such statements effectively encourage insurgents to keep on fighting. In this context, one wonders how many American soldiers will die as a result of Senator Leahy’s words of encouragement?

Guantanamo Bay has not “damaged our credibility.” If anything, the existence of Gitmo sends just the opposite signal to murdering cut-throats. If we fail to kill you on the field of battle, we are going to send you away to a tropical island, removing you from your country, your family, and every one of your normal points of reference except for your religion. We are going to keep you in such a place for a very long time.

Let’s also keep in mind that detainees at Gitmo have been introduced to a quality of life that they have not previously experienced. They eat regularly. They bathe regularly. They are given clean clothes to wear. They are even provided with lavatories and toilet paper, something that few of them have at home. They receive regular medical checkups, provided with prayer rugs, the Qu’ran, prayer beads, and they are shown the direction toward Mecca. Yes, it is true that they are imprisoned — such is the price of their murdering, barbaric behaviors.

These slugs are not kept in pits filled with human filth, and they are not hooked up to electrodes. They may be deprived of sleep, and they may be subjected to hours upon hours of Michael Jackson music, but that is not torture. Torture is pulling out their finger nails, driving bamboo slivers inside toenails, pouring water into their nostrils, shocking them with electricity, making them stand for hours in the hot sun, making them work under intolerable conditions, feeding them slop, and subjecting them to bizarre medical experiments. Those are the things the Japanese and Germans did in World War II, by the way, and how I would define “inhumane.”

Senator Leahy is a liar. The program as it exists at Guantanamo Bay is very credible because its detainees are not killing innocent people. He is a charlatan, too. Having been elected and sworn to preserve and protect us, he expresses greater concern for murdering barbarians than he does for the rights of innocent victims — which has become a standard for the American political left. This, of course, should not surprise anyone . . . just ask the leader of the political left, who is known in some circles as the Chappaquiddick Kid.

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