Where did I say that it did? I have not. Go back and re read what I am saying please.

Again respectfully, not to be a jerk because your reading me as having said something I am not.

I'm not saying that you believe that, I'm saying that some people do, for the reasons you described, and that I think those people are either tragically misguided or deranged sociopaths drunk on power.

I think my point still stands.

You describe the full costs and burdens of this war on terror taking their toll on America as a whole and driving us to inhuman acts, but the people operating Guantanamo Bay are not America as a whole. They don't encounter what soldiers on the forefront of this conflict face every day, nor are they in a position where they see each loss of an American life and feel every casualty as something they could have prevented, and must prevent again. They are a separate entity (not separate from the military, but separate from the conflicts), as far as I know, and should therefore be as free from bias as the wardens and corrections officers who maintain our own prisons and, despite being surrounded by rapists and murderers and knowing what those monsters have done to fellow Americans, are expected to treat their charges humanely nonetheless.

Ok fair enough, the thing is that alot of people don't seem to understand is that this is the inevitable outcome of a prolonged conflict such as this. This is not the exception to the rule it's the rule itself. Look back at past conflicts and you can and will find the same treatment or worse, again it does not make it right. We should strive to prevent it from happening but this is in fact human nature to do what we are doing, if it were not then things like this would not appear so frequently in our history.

well said

what puzzles me is why we as a nation, and the world for that matter, don't seem to think along these lines, or if the majority does - why are they governed by people who don't.

Your actually missing the point, not all suicide bombers come from poor areas that are directly affected nor do all Jyhadists, by your logic many of those who have gone to fight should have no reason to, conversely all that is needed is the belief that what one is doing is the right thing to protect their own beliefs and way of life, and in that sense it's easy to see how people can justify Gitmo. Peoples actions and how we see them shape ones beliefs about them if all you know of muslims is that they strap explosives to themselves and blow up innocent people then it's not hard to imagine one seeing them as less than human. Regardless of what they are fighting I still fail to see how blowing up a market full of people anywhere is a justifyable act. however I don't think all muslims are suicide bombers waiting to happen, but there are those who do and in that context putting them in charge of a prison where they are handed enemy combatants...... I think you can see where I am going with this.

Being subjected to death on the battlefield is one thing. Once someone has been captured, is off of a battlefield, is in custody, and is presented with legally binding charges and punishments from a civilized nation's penal code - it is another ball game.

"The enemy" may not have an enlightened, modern trial process with ingrained protections for the accused. That is one of the reasons that they are bad.

We do. That is why we are good. Remember?

When we stop doing that, we cease to be good. As we become more like them, we evolve into and are infected by the very logic that makes them bad.

I don't want my country to be like "them" nor to debase itself by incorporating their applications of due process and parameters for the protections of the accused found in "their legal system." Our troops pledge to uphold and defend ours. The anti-State endorsed torture as policy crowd are not bad for insisting that they honor that oath.

Look at my post just above where you originally asked this for that answer.

Because much of the world, including in the U.S. lags behind in education. The people who lead terrorist organizations are usually fairly well educated. The ones who follow them are usually not. The people who are calling for the US to act civilized are very often those who are fairly well educated and have learned to think for themselves instead of blindly following leaders.

Remember that people fear what they don't understand, what they're ignorant about.

Plus, the ones who don't see along these lines tend to have more guns.

First off, unlike terrorist organizations, we're supposed to care about whether or not misguided individuals are behaving inhumanely under the banner of our armed forces. Instead, we're seemingly encouraging them to act in this way, which goes beyond what you describe of people merely wanting to "protect their own beliefs and way of life" and going about it the wrong way. While the government has the power to weed out individuals with the kind of poor judgment and penchant for cruelty that leads to this manner of behavior, we've instead placed them in military prisons and turned their flaws as humans into assets for the government..

I wouldn't expect the keepers of Guantanamo Bay to be any more knowledgeable of the conditions that breed enemy combatants than I'd expect prison guards to understand what manner of experiences from childhood to adulthood may lead to someone becoming a murderer, rapist, or pedophile. Nonetheless, I think I can reasonably expect both groups to not drag their charges across a pool of urine and threaten them with rape, despite this fundamental lack of understanding, and in regards to prison guards within our nation we do see that level of restraint exercised.

The difference, of course, lies in the fact that the worst men who populate our nation's prisons are still American citizens while, on the other side, even the most innocent men who lie behind bars in Guantanamo Bay have no such privilege.

Absolutely sickening.

All I can really do is echo the people who've taken the position that we're supposed to be better than this.

To anybody who takes the position that "fuck 'em...they're the enemy"...can you not reason that if we're doing it to them..they're doing it to our guys? Even that has to make you sick, no?

Are you that much of a psychopath that you can't see that this kind of treatment is just plain wrong?! Enemy combatant or not...you do not treat humans like that.

I can accept psychological tactics for the purposes of interrogation. I can even accept a certain level of physical violence if it's in the course of a legitimate interrogation.

Plain old torture & bullying for no other reason than to make the bully feel like a big, strong man...is wholly unacceptable.

I have a lot of respect for soldiers who've been in combat...but nothing..NOTHING gives you the right to act like that.

Only libs take the side of the enemy during times of war. Blame America before you blame the death cult that makes people terrorists. Feel sympathy for the Taliban - find a way to blame America for them. As for this kid - well seen it all before and I don't trust liberal media on these things. Remember Mohammed Al Dura.

Even if it's true - so what?

DFKDFC.

He joined the enemy. Case closed.

Only a TROLL would ignore the facts. Like the CIA setting up the pre-al Qaeda groups to fight the Russians; Like the CIA helping Saddam come to power; Like the US interfereing in sovereign rule of nations in the area and having it bite us in the ass; like the kid being sent by his parents, regardless of his own desires, to the "enemy."

TROLL

That explains why FDR offered an unconditional surrender to the Japanese Empire!