Interesting. I noticed this the other day in the news coverage, but didn’t give it much more thought: the reluctance of the Bush administration to grant POW status to the captive Taliban soldiers being shipped off to Cuba.
Of course, most prisoners from the war have been released in Afghanistan. However, thousands remain in custody. The U.S. is convinced that, if released, many of these prisoners would immediately look for the nearest Al Qaeda recruiter. One of the least discussed reasons for continuing the bombing campaign over the objections of local warlords was simple mathematics: more daisy cutters, fewer detainees. Of course, unlike Basil II, the U.S. is restrained in its options by principles of decency and morality. President Bush may have a reputation for Texas-style justice but he is not likely to call for the red-hot pokers and send back a single-file line of sightless prisoners led by their one-eyed mullah. Moreover, he is unlikely to allow the conviction and summary execution of thousands of prisoners.
Yet no politician wants to release an Al Qaeda version of Willie Horton, some parolee of Camp X-Ray who ends up on the evening news holding a release order and a vial of anthrax. This means that a large number of prisoners will need to be held for an extended period. However, while the occupants of a “prison” are normally called “prisoners,” the administration has been careful not to use the P word.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, and there are plenty of holes in the one I’m about to suggest, but imagine if you’re Al Qaeda. At some point, you know you’re gonna get your butts whupped by the US. So you simply melt away. Give up. Withdraw. And the folks that get rounded up? Well, what’s the US going to do about it? Not kill them all, certainly, as would happen in combat. So let them capture a bunch of grunts. They’ll all eventually get out.
No, that would be too sophisticated plotting, for a variety of reasons. But the unconventional nature of the “war” we’re fighting, as well as how it’s ended, is causing the legal beagles fits. What sort of uniform, for example, would you expect terrorists (the folks we’re at war with, right?) to wear?
(Via Cursor.org)