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Gitmo In, Gitmo Out?
Special to FreeRepublic ^ | 17 June 2005 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)

Posted on 06/13/2005 7:24:30 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob

I first wrote about the Gitmo prison, four years ago. I laid out facts the MSM have yet to discover. Here’s another dose:

1. If Gitmo is closed, the prisoners, AND the complaints, will go elsewhere. (Is Senator Mel Martinez really that clueless?)

2. The Geneva Conventions do NOT apply to anyone captured in plain clothes, behind the lines, hiding among civilians (and also killing civilians). Anyone can read the Geneva Conventions for themselves. Fighters/soldiers must meet four conditions to be covered. Terrorists fail to meet at least three of those.

These are not “insurgents.” Insurgents are people who disagree with their group. Senators Olympia Snowe and Lincoln Chafee are insurgents. If you don’t want to say “terrorists,” use “assassins.” Google the word assassin and note its origins in Indian history. “Religious fanatics who murder civilians.” Sounds like a fit, to me.

What treatment do assassins/terrorists warrant, bare minimum? A drumhead trial, and prompt execution. Google Nathan Hale, or Major John Andre, to see why they got such trials and executions during the America Revolution.

3. Even if the prisoners at Gitmo WERE subject to the Geneva Convention, how long could they be held, and under what conditions?

Does the phrase “for the duration” mean anything to the press? Or to any Members of Congress, currently mouthing off on this subject? In every war ever fought – once most nations outgrew the idea of slaughtering all prisoners – the captured fighters were held until the war ended (unless ransomed out, like Chaucer, among others).

During World War II we had camps for prisoners many places, as needed. There was even a German POW camp in Arkansas. Don’t believe me? Google it. And NONE of those prisoners were entitled to lawyers, trials, etc.

The Americans who hit the beach at Iwo Jima, or Normandy, or anywhere else, did not go in with arrest warrants, and printed cards to read captured Japanese or Germans their Miranda rights. They went in with rifles and hand grenades. Their task was to kill as many of the enemy as possible, while preserving their own lives.

I repeat the words of General George Patton, that entirely too few Americans apparently have heard, or understood. “You do not win a war by dying for your country. You win by making some other b*stard die for his country.” While we are quoting famous generals for statements that any fool, even a reporter or a Congressman, should know, add this from William Tecumseh Sherman, “War is hell.”

4. What about the “lack of an exit plan?” Anyone who even asks this question is demonstrating a thundering ignorance of history. As World War II makes very clear, our exit strategy then was: Win the war. Take over the country. Destroy the war culture. Turn the nation into a stable, democratic one with a free market economy. That new nation, unlike the defeated one, will then become an ally of the US.

We never announced, in advance, when we would withdraw troops from Germany, nor how many troops we would take out. If we had done that, the Werewolves who were set up by the Nazis to continue fighting after the surrender, would have run to ground. They would have come out to fight after the date we had announced it would become easier.

Let me shorten that, so even the dumbest Congressman or the most biased reporter for the New York Times can understand it. A competent exit plan means: Win. Straighten things out. Come home.

Anyone who thinks he/she can predict exactly when the US military will be able to win and then come home, should practice by predicting next month’s stock prices. That way, if they are wrong, they will not be betting with the lives of Americans.

5. What is the cost of this war in our blood?

I’ve written about this before, so I’ll be brief here. Of the eleven major wars the US has fought including our Revolution, this is the LEAST bloody war measured by deaths per month. Don’t believe me? Google the statistics. Look it up. Then quit writing and/or believing cr*p about how costly this war is.

While you are at it, look up the statistics on how many young American men die, per thousand, in auto accidents, shootings, and other causes here in the US, as opposed to in Iraq. Use deaths per thousand. Try comparing Baghdad to Detroit, to use an example not entirely at random.

To press and politicians, I say: Research the facts. Tell the truth. Quit being dumb as a brick. Is that so d*mned difficult?

About the Author: John Armor is a First Amendment attorney and author who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Free Republic; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: assassins; exitplan; generalpatton; generalsherman; genevaconventions; germany; gitmo; guantanamo; insurgents; iwojima; japan; majorjohnandre; melmartinez; mirandarights; nathanhale; normandy; terrorists; wwii
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To: bozot
"While you are at it, look up the statistics on how many young American men die, per thousand, in auto accidents, shootings, and other causes here in the US

Most deaths are in the liberal "utopias", too. Maybe the lefties ( who have failed everything they've ever done), should clean up their own back yards before trying to tell others what to do elsewhere. Cleaning up their own messes should keep them busy and out of our hair for decades!

21 posted on 06/13/2005 7:58:15 AM PDT by concerned about politics (Vote Republican - Vote morally correct!)
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To: dts32041

Yes, of course. You may share this with others as you choose. Just preserve my copyright and spell my name right. LOL.

John


22 posted on 06/13/2005 7:59:13 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob (For copies of my speech, "Dealing with Outlaw Judges," please Freepmail me.)
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To: Guenevere

..Kristol....quacks like a conservative when it suits him...

AGREE! I can recall when he was all in favor of the Iraq war.....then, when seemed unpopular....he began to turn.
Brit Hume took Kristol down a peg on FNS.


23 posted on 06/13/2005 8:00:07 AM PDT by 4integrity
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To: Congressman Billybob
OK, done, though I don't think I will send it to my two senators osama obama and eddie haskell.
24 posted on 06/13/2005 8:01:26 AM PDT by dts32041 (Robin Hood, stealing from the government and giving back to tax payer. Where is he today?)
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To: bozot

While you are at it look up how many people die each year in the US because of doctor's mistakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a military family, we are willing to make the sacrifice to help keep the people of this country safe!!!!!!!!!!!


25 posted on 06/13/2005 8:01:34 AM PDT by Coldwater Creek ('We voted like we prayed")
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To: 4integrity
On Fox News Sunday,Bill Kristol, a supposed conservative, suggested closing Gitmo.

Maybe he's been busy and not really paying serious attention to the issue, or he's spent too much time reading the liberal press.
Honestly, Americans could care less about Gitmo. The only thing they want changed is the anti-American attacks committed by our own press! They're the only ones making a big deal about this.
Nobody else cares. People (the voters) feel safer will the crazies behind bars.

26 posted on 06/13/2005 8:03:27 AM PDT by concerned about politics (Vote Republican - Vote morally correct!)
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To: Guenevere

..We just voted Matinez in...

Guenevere, Florida here too. And, that's what I said when I called his office. He owes the people who campaigned for him (cause the President wanted us to..!)and voted for him an explanation of exactly where he would put these detainees. Guess, Martinez put a lot of thought into his suggestion to close Gitmo (sarcasm..)cause his staffer said they had not been given talking points to answer questions re this issue. Speaks volumes.


27 posted on 06/13/2005 8:06:46 AM PDT by 4integrity
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To: Congressman Billybob
To press and politicians, I say: Research the facts. Tell the truth. Quit being dumb as a brick. Is that so d*mned difficult?

Unfortunately, for most of the ones you are talking about, the answer is "Yes". Their agenda is at odds with truth, so guess which wins?

You have written a lot of this before but it deserves to be said again, and again, and again. That said, some will never learn, but the lesser fools might.

Good article!

Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding him like grain with a pestle, you will not remove his folly from him. - Proverbs 27:22

28 posted on 06/13/2005 8:08:08 AM PDT by Gritty ("Lawyers will turn Gitmo into Clinton's impeachment revels or the Michael Jackson trial-R E Tyrrell)
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To: 4integrity
#27..Figures.

I need to give them a call too.

29 posted on 06/13/2005 8:09:08 AM PDT by Guenevere
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To: concerned about politics

I guess the issue keeps getting mixed up.

The main problem is not why real criminals/terrorists are behind bars.

If someone is guilty they should be tried and punished according to the law.

Jus because the secrecy and the reluctance of having a decent trials - otherwise how we know that those people are really criminals?
Some of them had been picked up in heat of the war and some of them were innocent, or at least not guilty to the level to get this treatment.

Here is the credibility of the USA is on the line about law and legality.
The superpower status allows to ignore this, but I dont think that the isolation would serve the best interest of the country


30 posted on 06/13/2005 8:14:52 AM PDT by bozot
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: Congressman Billybob
Give all the Gitmo detainees a sex change operation, then release them back to their tolerant muslim friends.
32 posted on 06/13/2005 8:24:46 AM PDT by BallyBill
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To: angrylibertarian
"As long as there is a war on, everyone is subject to the geneva convention."

This is categorically untrue, and the rest of your assertion is equally flawed.

The Geneva Conventions are mutually agreed conventions of war. Show me the signature to any agreement by any one of the Iraqi terrorists.....
33 posted on 06/13/2005 8:27:02 AM PDT by rockrr (Gregorovych Nyet!)
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To: angrylibertarian
Please read the plain English of the Geneva Conventions. They have FOUR conditions. THREE of them do not apply. Do your homework and report back.

You also fail to deal with the Law of War, which applies generally unless the Conventions make exceptions. Under that law, the British executed Nathan Hale, and the Americans executed Major John Andre. I assume you've seen the executions of Germans AFTER the end of WW II, by American troops.

Do you think those Americans were just being barbarians? Or, have you looked at the kind of trials and the applicable law which led to those executions?

In short, you haven't done your homework. You are riding on baseless assumptions, just like most reporters.

John / Billybob
34 posted on 06/13/2005 8:30:04 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob (For copies of my speech, "Dealing with Outlaw Judges," please Freepmail me.)
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To: Guenevere

toll free number to US Capitol and Sen. Martinez' office...
1-877-762-8762.


35 posted on 06/13/2005 8:32:02 AM PDT by 4integrity
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Comment #36 Removed by Moderator

To: Congressman Billybob
This column? Not a moment too soon and if wishes came true - would be up front and center in every MSM. They are so disconnected from the public and this uproar about Gitmo is merely one more symptom. As I have said before, democrat members of my family who never ever miss voting - could care less. We had a get-together last week and to a person, they do not care, do not want to know, and Gitmo is a good a place as any for them.

Re German POW camps - there were five in Louisiana. Some of the POWs picked cotton for the farmers whose males were away fighting the war. They earned .80 a day. Oh the humanity, eh? Where was ACLU? We had nearly half a million POWs scattered across the country - mostly in the south and southeast in rural areas. Comparing the two sets of POWs (WW2 & WOT), the fine hand of the ACLU, the MSM, and the various "humanity groups" makes very plain the direction they are trying to take our country.

37 posted on 06/13/2005 8:41:37 AM PDT by daybreakcoming
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Comment #38 Removed by Moderator

To: mariabush

"We will never be completely safe "

Ok... You inprison the muslims...
Then the leftist (practically whole of Europe)...
Then the leftist in the US...
Then the Chineese ,the Russians...
Where would you stop ?


39 posted on 06/13/2005 8:46:08 AM PDT by bozot
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To: 4integrity

Thanks!


40 posted on 06/13/2005 8:56:34 AM PDT by Guenevere
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