Ted Rall for May 28, 2014

Mean old gov’t; saving his life and all. I say put food in his cell. If he wants to starve…good.

I’d bet a buck fifty that he really does know the difference. We all knew what he meant. Just for the record, if you’d ever been catheterized for any length of time, you might think they used a needle…

Again, we come back to the problem of Guantanamo. There are prisoners who have been cleared to go home for the past 5 years. But they’re still there. And there’s no plans to let them go. There are others who have been awaiting what would pass for a trial for more than 10. Under the circumstances, I would probably also start a hunger strike. What other bargaining tool does one have there?

Not to worry, though. Last week, the House voted to continue the act that gives the president the ability to imprison whomever he/she chooses when he/she feels insecure. Due process? How quaint. What does the Constitution know, anyway? They also voted not to close Guantanamo or to do anything with the prisoners there.

Do they really think that everything will be fine once the last prisoner dies?

Guantanamo: whenever we say, “That isn’t us. That isn’t what America is about.”…..that’s what we are talking about.

It IS what today’s America is about. And that is a truly sad commentary.

bin Ladin had two goals: one was to fundamentally change the freedom that was America. The other was to bankrupt our country. And our feckless “leaders” at the time played right into his hands. TSA/NSA/warrantless wiretaps/the military commissions act, and of course the collapse of the economy in 2008 after spending $2 billion of China’s money every week for years……

I am not following you. Are you saying that everyone in Guantanamo deserves to be held indefinitely without trial? Because I certainly did not say what you seem to think I said.

I think you have misunderstood my position. I believe every prisoner of war should be prosecuted, have a fair trial, and be properly imprisoned for any and all crimes. But it is downright inhuman to imprison people indefinitely without hope for any kind of trial.

When I went to school, I was told that such behavior only happened in repressive dictatorships, and that I should be proud to live in a country that would never do such a thing.

Similarly, it is inhuman to continue to imprison anyone who has been exonerated. I think you’d feel the same way, but I might have read you wrong.

Should they release them over the Atlantic?

Hey! Dick Chaney determined some time ago, when the President wasn’t black and cartoonist didn’t have his skin color to bash, that, along with water boarding, inserting needles in your hand and penis was not torture. So there, Ted!