However it's not like the people being held down there are innocent little angels that were swept up out of their beds by a dictatorship in the middle of the night. Despite what many on the left would tell you.
Indeed. I mean, if the police arrest someone, they must not be angels either. So let's just lock all of them up too without trial.
As for the ones that aren't American citizens, they can rot in there. They are prisoners of war until the war is over.
The "hiding behind the Geneva convention" argument is the dumbest excuse for the Guantanamo-situation ever. First of all, when is "the war" over? When all the "terrorists" are dead? How convenient that the US decides who the terrorists are then.
Second of all, before hiding behind international conventions, try actually following them. How long did it take before allowing the Red Cross to access the detainees? And what is currently being done after the Red Cross has reported the conditions as inhumane? Not enough, that's for sure.
I can't even begin to understand the "they're not American" excuse. So it's ok for the US army to travel to another country, "arrest" random people, and detain them as POWs? After all, they're not American. That just doesn't make sense.
The whole enemy combatant/Geneva convention babble only works in traditional warfare between two nation states / alliances. That was how the original convention was intended. One of the major requirements for having POWs is that the two sides are easily determinable, typically through similar clothing/uniforms. For Guerrilla warfare, this is modified to visibly wearing weapons during military operations.
Anyone not doing so, are unlawful combatants, and loose the privileges of POWs.
They still retain the rights of civilians. Meaning that to retain them, they would need a fair trial. Isn't there a hole in the logic somewhere here?
Even if we should assume that the POW argument made sense, the Geneva convention actually requires that the POWs are quartered under the same conditions as the US troops. Please just try to tell me that is the case..
It's things like this that's making the US seem more like an undeveloped country in terms of politics. (This, and not allowing neutral observers to monitor the last presidential elections)
You can argue "they deserve it" all you want, and for the majority of detainees, I might agree with you. But the "everything is according to law" argument won't pass.