Posted on 06/13/2005 9:32:23 PM PDT by CHARLITE
As I watched the ABC news last Sunday night, I was reminded of how the TV news networks seemed to be so anxious to tell us all the bad things that have happened in Iraq or at Gitmo.
“Four more of our soldiers were killed today in Iraq, making a total number of X hundred this year,” the anchor solemnly announced. I could not help but wonder how many Americans were also killed today in Detroit, New York, Chicago or Los Angeles, and how many that would add up to in one year.
I think of media as trying to “Vietnamese” this war so that Americans will blame the current administration and demand that we bring our troops home. If you think that this is not working, just read some of the daily “Letters to the Editor” in your local newspapers. Today, the following was a part of the lead letter in my paper:
I guess these readers (and the media) have already forgotten the 8 million Iraqi men and women who just risked their lives to go to the polls to vote for their own freedom with thanks to America. They also lack the knowledge that the Iraqi Heads of State asked us to stay in Iraq to help them. And are they really that naïve that they don’t realize that in our absence at present the terrorists will be free to re-conquer Iraq and will be emboldened to attack the USA again?
Are these people lost in the leftist propaganda because they seldom hear about all the good things that our troops are accomplishing in Iraq, about the schools and hospitals that are being rebuilt, about how many lives have been saved by stopping future attacks on our soil, or how thankful that we are that we are fighting the terrorists over there rather than here?
The media seems to forget that these terrorists (the media calls them, ‘Insurgents”) are financed by countries neighboring Iraq that are ruled by despots. Their corrupt governments know that freedom for the people of Iraq will spread to the other countries in the Middle East, causing their citizens to ask for the same. Power is more important to rulers than freedom for their people!
And then we have the news networks also trying to make the prisons for terrorists look like American torture camps. As a combat veteran of WWII, I can tell you what torture really means as can any American still alive after being a POW in any war. Torture means physical, screaming and agonizing pain, not the mere emotional stress we have applied to those who would kill innocent women and children! Ask some of the Iraqi citizens who have had their hands cut off or their bodies mutilated by Saddam Hussein about the real definition of torture!
Close down Guantanamo, the left shouts. And do what with the imprisoned civilian terrorists? They are not military soldiers of another country, so are not subject to the Geneva treaty. Move them to a prison here in the USA, some say. Can you imagine the outcry and protests if some escaped and blew up or hacked to death some of the local people living near that prison? I can hear the leftists now wanting to impeach President Bush for not keeping them in Cuba.
It is getting difficult, if not impossible, for me and my family to watch any TV network news any more. We are thankful that there is still a Fox Cable News. At least, we have an alternative news source. But even Fox, in an effort to be fair and balanced, airs the ridiculous lies and propaganda of the far left socialists and secularists who will only be happy when they have complete control of the America people and our government.
Will America stay strong? Or will once again Americans bow to weakness, as during the Clinton years, appeasing the liberals and preferring to be loved by both the UN and world opinion rather than preserving the freedom and culture of this once great country?
About the Writer: Lee Ellis is a retired journalist and a former vice president of both CBS and Gannet. He resides in Indio, California, where he write op-eds that appear in several local newspapers. Lee receives e-mail at indiolee@dc.rr.com.
Once they are on American soil the the ACLU, CAIR et al can demand and receive for them, ALL the civil liberties and protections that US citizens are entitled to.
I think you would be correct .. and thereby may be the reason the lefties are trying to close Gitmo. If they can just get those people on USA soil .. they can work their magic.
But .. Gitmo is USA soil .. isn't it ..?
No ... Cuba.
But .. Cuba has no authority over us on the property where the base is located. Guantanamo - I believe - is a 99 year lease - or something like that.
I believe the base situation is similar to an embassy - which is considered AMERICAN SOIL.
So .. I would presume Gitmo is on American soil.
No they haven't forgotten
U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay was established in 1898, when the U.S. obtained control of Cuba from Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War, following the 1898 invasion of Guantanamo Bay. The US government obtained a perpetual lease that began on February 23, 1903, from Tomás Estrada Palma, an American citizen, who became the first President of Cuba. The newly formed American protectorate incorporated the Platt Amendment in the Cuban Constitution. The Cuban-American Treaty held, among other things, that the US, for the purposes of operating coaling and naval stations, has "complete jurisdiction and control" of the Guantanamo Bay, while the Republic of Cuba is recognized to retain ultimate sovereignty.
In 1905, in part because of the Platt Amendment, there was an uprising requiring the US to occupy Cuba for 3 years. A 1934 treaty reaffirming the lease granted Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in gold coins per year, to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 U.S. Treasury Dollars, and added a requirement that termination of the lease requires the consent of both the US and Cuba governments, or the abandonment of the base property by the US.
Could this be what the libs are aiming for?
Oh, ding! ding! I wonder if that is what Dodd really wants?
could be .. give the whole island back to Castro
These prisoners squealled like little piggies. They dont want to go home. The would last only a very short time. Let the ACLU kill them by releasing them home with a great big, vocal pat on the back from Uncle Sam, what with giving us all their information. The the home folks that we could not have done it without their help. The would not last the day.
Thanks to Howlin in Post #8 for supplying the answer.
It would appear by the subsequent posts that the mystery has been solved. ;*)
You're not kidding. As much as I support Bush and the admin, we need to minimize the amount of troops we have on the ground and start using our Air Force and advanced U.S. technology to crush these terrorist bugs.
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Arguing with a liberal is like watching a dog chase its tail; it's funny to see the two run around in circles, confused, with no end in sight
I don't believe it is. America leases it from Cuba. I believe the lease is in perpetuity and dates from the Spainish-American war.
What a know-it-all! ;-)
But .. I still say .. Cuba has NO AUTHORITY on the base premises - therefore making the base "technically" USA soil.
If Cuba had any authority there - we would have left when Castro took over.
Thank you for that enlightening info.
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