Picking up on this story out of Kentucky, about two Iraqi refugees arrested for attempting to send arms back to Iraq and Mitch McConnell's call to have them sent to Gitmo -- as opposed to, y'know, just trying them in the normal course of justice -- because it is "the only way we can be certain there won't be retaliatory attacks in Kentucky."
(H/t to Steve M. over at No More Mister Nice Blog.)
Let me go ahead and apologize right off the bat: I'm sorry for using offensive language. But I cannot think of another word that carries the same level of disdain, contempt and visceral impact. Probably because I am not well-read enough.
But . . . seriously, when did America become a nation of pussies? Jesus H. Christ! We looked Hitler in the eye and said, "No." We went through decades of a steely-eyed staring contest with the USSR when the stakes were nuclear war. We lifted ourselves out of the Great Depression, we revolutionized food production and computer engineering, we gave rise to the indomitable idea of the Great Middle Class.
And now we're just a bunch of pussies. 'Cause some brown guy with a beard might look at us squintily.
Screw the GOP. I don't like them mostly because all of their ideas are wrong, but God in Heaven! How the hell people can look at that party and consider it anything other than a bunch of pantie-clutching schoolgirls is beyond me.
Jurisprudence, we have a problem.
ReplyDeleteLaw derives from rules and customs of the tribe. Members of the tribe who violate the rules and customs are punished or outlawed. This normally works well within the tribe.
The Iraqi refugees sending back arms to Iraq, however, are perceived as belonging to another tribe. The impulse is to find another way to deal with them.
During World War II citizens of Japanese descent were suddenly seen as belonging to another tribe. Normal rules of due process were suspended and these Japanese Americans were sent to camps.
In all likelihood the real if unacknowledged reason behind the impulse to send them to Gitmo is the perception that they are not members of our tribe but outsiders and should be dealt with accordingly, without the rules and protections that apply to members of the tribe.