Posted on May 2, 2018
Trump’s Pentagon Opens Up Guantanamo Bay to New Prisoners
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MAJ Montgomery Granger
SSG (Join to see) - Why? Why do you try to equate civilian legal procedures to wartime offenses. The stakes are higher in war, therefore the laws more explicit, the loop holes smaller, and extra legal privileges few, if any. It's clear in Geneva that if one does not meet the criteria for a lawful combatant, they earn ZERO extra legal privileges, and may be shot dead on the battlefield. At one point the Soviet Union tried to get the Geneva Conventions changed to say clandestine (out of uniform) soldiers should be included as a protected class. Ronald Reagan said, "No." He said no because to do so would needlessly endanger civilians. The US uses clandestine warriors, and we understand the stakes should they be captured. The US is the most generous and benevolent country the world has ever seen, but even we have limits, and the law supports the detention of unlawful combatants, as it does lawful combatant POW's, to be held without charge or trial until the end of hostilities. I am very sorry you can't understand that.
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SSG (Join to see)
MAJ Montgomery Granger - Because now we have people in detention that we cant prove there guilt but are worried about them leaving and doing harm to us. I am also not advocating civilian legal procedures I am advocating military legal procedures. The problem is even in a military court we cant prove that most of them did anything. If they are a HVT then just drop a boom on them and be done with it. If they are a unlawful combatant then charge them in a military court if you cant then get rid of them in the theater of operation.
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MAJ Montgomery Granger
SSG (Join to see) - Why the rush, SSG? A) They are at least unlawful combatants. B) Even lawful combatant POW's may be held without charge or trial "until the end of hostilities." C) Unlawful combatants are not entitled to extra legal privileges. Past precedents indicate that unlawful combatants may be shot dead on the battlefield or tried for war crimes and then executed. There is no political or military advantage at this time to attempt to try unlawful combatants for war crimes. The Military Commissions Act of 2009 (still in effect, and written by Obama and Holder), gives unlawful combatant Islamists who want to kill us virtually the SAME rights you or I would enjoy in a federal court of law. Whereas, the Geneva Conventions and Law of Land Warfare only allow for rights of those accused of war crimes on par with what a US soldier would enjoy through UCMJ proceedings - fair and just. Unlawful combatants are not entitled to speedy anything, least of all a trial. Relax and enjoy the ride.
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MAJ Montgomery Granger
SFC Kelly Fuerhoff - Prove any of that. You can't. Although I generally respect opinions, yours seems to be exclusively born from Islamist propaganda, predictably with no back-up, just rhetoric. Gitmo was a cluster from the beginning, when a "consensus" decided to treat all detainees as high value, ignoring recommendations from US Army officers with Operation Desert Storm and civilian law enforcement experience. Eventually, prison operations became normalized, and detainees were allowed more freedoms as they cooperated. While serving in Iraq, after my time at Gitmo, I happened to be inspecting Camp Redemption at Abu Ghraib prison (after the abuse scandal there), and ran into a gentleman detainee there who claimed to be a former general under Saddam Hussein. He spoke perfect English, and reminded me that if he and his comrades were treated well it would be a good thing for the US. He said he and his subordinates (currently incarcerated) would act as PR minions and then spread the word that the US is honorable and just. We screwed the pooch on that one, too. Showers were cold water only, on spigots 3' high; western style toilets; tents in disrepair, under-nourishing food; poor clothing; poor medicine management; and the list goes on. After pointing out many of these things to the camp command, I was transferred to Ashraf. I don't suggest torture or abuse. I suggest keeping the detainees according to the law, nothing more, nothing less. If they think they will never be released unless they cooperate, so much the better. If they think they will never be released unless the jihad ends, that's even better.
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