Text 14433, 59 rader
Skriven 2008-04-22 17:27:12 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
  Kommentar till text 14374 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Guantanamo (was: Thought crime...again)
===============================================
22 Apr 08 18:28, Robert Bashe wrote to Joe Delahaye:

 RB> Joe Delahaye wrote to Roy Witt on Monday April 21 2008 at 17:06:
 WD>>>> So what is the prison at Guantanamo about then?
 RW>>> First of all, that's US territory...

 JD>> However, those prisoners were sent there because it is NOT US
 JD>> territory, and thus not subject to US law...

 RB> Roy's wrong on this one, and you're right.

Sorry, but you're wrong here. As a leased piece of land with a military
base on it, it becomes a US protectorate.

 RB> My remembrance was that Guantanamo was leased from the Cuban
 RB> government, and in fact this is the case. The Wikepedia writeup is
 RB> very informative. Seems this is a perpetual lease that can only be
 RB> dissolved by agreement of the two governments or if the US abandons
 RB> the territory.

 RB> But the fact is that Guantanamo is NOT part of the USA, not a state,
 RB> not a territory, not even a protectorate, but merely a military base,
 RB> and US law does NOT apply there.

So far, you've agreed with everything I've said, including that military
law applies there.

 RB> That was the whole purpose of putting prisoners there, since they
 RB> could otherwise have had recourse to US law. And the purpose of
 RB> calling them "enemy combatants" was to make sure no rights under the
 RB> Geneva Convention could be claimed.

Which is also in agreement with what I've said.

 RB> That way, you can keep persons behind bars indefinately, without
 RB> trial or representation, and still claim that this is "legal", at
 RB> least nominally.

 RB> Naturally that's something that simply doesn't fit with American
 RB> democracy - the only parallels are in dictatorships - but
 RB> unfortunately American democracy isn't what it used to be.

WW2 prisoners of the European war were kept behind barbed wire fences and
they were there for an indefinate period of time. Back then, we didn't
have the wacko left giving rights to those who don't deserve them. Today,
we have the ACLU and other liberal organizations giving the Constitution a
go in our court system. Most recently, they've supported a woman's right
to say no during consequential sex and if the man didn't stop right away,
he can be charged with rape. One person has already been charged with rape
under these circumstances because he took 5 seconds after the woman's
request to stop. As a man, you know it's not that easy to abruptly stop
that activity.

                R\%/itt



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