A Gentleman’s view.

For some, if this isn’t a war on terror, there’s something wrong!

The pundits; the talking heads we see on TV, the so called people in the know about things to the point that when something happens seemingly related to their area of expertise, they get called in to comment on the topic from the perceived point of having some prior experience in the arena in question. Most of the time they seem to come up with rational decision-making process to explain why an action should have or haven’t been taken depending on the outcome. It appears that there are no shortage of those who know better than the current President when it comes to most of the decisions he has made to date, especially when dealing with national security, a area the Republican Party falsely claimed authority with little experience or support to back up the pride in place. One of these talking heads has at least the real life experience to give some credence to opinions voiced by the man; namely former US Attorney General for the State of New York for one thing, and follow that up with being Mayor of the City of New York at the time of the most devastating attack on American soil since World War II.

But for the sake of having a real leader when we were attacked, we have wandered and meandered from being a hurt innocent and angry nation seeking to avenge those lost with that innocence with no particular target in mind. We headed to the Middle East because we were told they came from that a way. A decade later, when we voted for change to the status quo in Washington for the umpteenth time, after all this time at war, there is no money for the change so many of us so drastically need just for survival in this country. The Republicans, striving for being more than the party of no, have decided they still reign supreme in the national security arena and are challenging the President’s handling of the Christmas Day Bomber attempt to bring down a plane. The President refuses to recognize that we are at ‘War’, he doesn’t use the word ‘Terror’ enough, shouldn’t be trying ‘these people’ in our courts, they don’t deserve rights. The Republican Party has decided that the worse crime that any citizen of the world can commit at any age, and even more so if it is a person of color or than white, is to attack America in any way shape or form. That in so doing constitutes a capital offense and is deemed automatically punishable by death. This includes all kinds of aiding, abetting and providing material support for declared and perceived enemies of these United States of America.

This declaration in and of itself is not the most terrible statement a country can make to the world in the pursuit of discouraging organizations, states, and or individuals from attacking our nation or interests around the world as well as those of our allies. If through our required respect for and faith in the national perception of the rule of law across this land, we choose to snatch people up walking down the streets in their home countries, lock up people based on rumor, rather than investigation and due process. If everyone just starts pointing out every little suspicious thing they run across when it comes to their neighbor, we could take care of this little problem of national security right here at home just fine, let us worry about how we are getting the information for the declaration of ‘enemy combatant’. In this environment, evidence would not necessarily be required; once someone decided it that any ‘said person’ is an enemy of the state. The former Republican Mayor made this declaration on national television this week when questioned about the handling of the Nigerian ‘kid’ probably suffering from either Bi-Polar Disorder or Schizophrenia. The question put to ‘America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani was why did he come out against processing this young man through our courts as we would any criminal. Why his former experience as US Attorney General for the State of New York, he stated that convictions didn’t matter here, we shouldn’t have stopped interrogating him at all and definitely not waste our legal system on him.

We here in America, are of the perception of being somewhat equal level in that if we commit a crime against another one of us, we are still required some legal representation through the process in order for the system to be considered fair for those who might be cheated otherwise. There are no exceptions to this consideration even if as a citizen, an attempt is made on anyone in whole or part to cause major harm or loss of life or with the intent of causing catastrophic death and destruction of major property. There is no exception to this fair representation rule even if you killed the President. But for all the families of the over 3000 who died in the World Trade Center attack, they have never heard the guilty or not guilty victory cry or defeat needed for closure. But, even if we are not sure you have ever committed a wonton act of terror against our land or our interest, someone scared of the possible ‘hospital treatment’ in one of our now infamous facilities around this planet can claim that any one of countless people they could have a personal problem with, can be ultimately determined to be an enemy combatant, and by their Republican standards of no due process, requires they be put to death at best, locked up for the rest of their lives at worst as their fate. The former US Attorney General said convictions don’t matter when it comes to the war on terror, just keep interrogating them until you can’t get no more information from them, then processing them through Military Tribunals. Question is, ‘Just exactly when can you stop getting information from them to win this war? Another, What exactly is interrogating them again? What was that about spending and a budget? We got a War to Win!

© 2010, agentleman. All rights reserved.