Posted on 05/31/2005 9:23:48 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Recalling how John McCain's "code of honor" is what "separated him from his captors" in communist North Vietnam, on Sunday's Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer casually referred to how he "thought about that as yet another tale of torture and abuse came out about the POW camp we are running at Guantanamo Bay." Schieffer then proceeded to endorse New York Times columnist Tom Friedman's recommendation that "the prison ought to be shut down because the stories about it are so inflaming the Arab world." Schieffer presumed the worst about the uncorroborated charges related to detainee treatment, most of which fall far short of qualifying as "torture." Schieffer asked: "I wondered if the greater danger is the impact Guantanamo is having on us. Do we want our children to believe this is how we are?" Characterizing the U.S. as no better than our enemies, Schieffer concluded: "As we reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day, let us remember first what it is that separates us from those who would take away our freedom," the code "John McCain's dad taught his kid."
In his Friday column, "Just Shut It Down," Friedman, from London, framed the anti-U.S. media in Britain and Germany as the best guide to U.S. policy:
"If you want to appreciate how corrosive Guantanamo has become for America's standing abroad, don't read the Arab press. Don't read the Pakistani press. Don't read the Afghan press. Hop over here to London or go online and just read the British press! See what our closest allies are saying about Gitmo. And when you get done with that, read the Australian press and the Canadian press and the German press."
Friedman insisted that stories of abuse at Guantanamo are "inflaming sentiments against the U.S. all over the world and providing recruitment energy on the Internet for those who would do us ill." He charged: "Guantanamo Bay is becoming the anti-Statue of Liberty."
Maybe we should shut down the media instead which spread such anti-American hatred.
And how would closing Guantanamo achieve anything? Wouldn't the America-hating media -- at home and abroad -- simply publicize prisoner-complaints at whatever facility replaces Guantanamo?
For Friedman's May 27 column in full: www.nytimes.com
In the last segment of the May 29 Face the Nation, Schieffer, who also anchors the CBS Evening News, delivered this commentary:
"Finally today, the other night I went to a screening of Faith of Our Fathers, the new movie about John McCain's five-year ordeal in a North Vietnamese prison that airs on A&E tomorrow night. It flashes back to McCain's high school days, when the principal reported bad grades to McCain's father, whose only question was not about grades but whether his son had violated the school honor code. Had he lied or cheated? When told that he had not, his father said, 'Well, call me if he does that.'
"McCain says that code of honor drilled into him by his father and the Naval Academy is why he was able to survive the torture and the inhumanity of his prison captors. He couldn't let his father down. That code of honor was the center of his life and it gave him strength -- what separated him from his captors.
"I thought about that as yet another tale of torture and abuse came out about the POW camp we are running at Guantanamo Bay. Columnist Tom Friedman said the prison ought to be shut down because the stories about it are so inflaming the Arab world they're making the war on terrorism more dangerous for our American soldiers to fight. But as I watched the McCain movie, I wondered if the greater danger is the impact Guantanamo is having on us. Do we want our children to believe this is how we are? Is this the code of honor we are passing on to the next generation?
"As we reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day, let us remember first what it is that separates us from those who would take away our freedom: What John McCain's dad taught his kid, what we should be teaching ours."
But then, again, the entire "progressuve coomunity" will raise stench that we are sending them to Tukey where they will be tortured. It's always lose-lose with them. So let's just ignore them and do what's best for America.
Who cares what the press thinks! The press around the world are a bunch of leftys/commies/islamonazis (fill in any other accurate discription you may choose). I couldn't give a damn what any of them think. History will judge us all.... including them.
IMHO,Bob schiefer is a gray-haired version of blather.
Having said that, I think he may be on to something. Let's fill Gitmo to standing room only and then leave. Let Castro deal with them. Two birds, one stone.
I'm guessing the Fourth of July will somehow do the same.
Then there's Labor Day... and on and on.
To save America's honor we should deport Bob Schieffer to China. Jerk.
Our heroes are down there taking care of business and these A******S are out here bashing. Makes me SICK on my stomach. Screw Bob Schieffer.
I guess the CBS journalists didn't read the manuals that were found, telling terrorists how to act when caught....
WE KNOW what they say, THE TERRORISTS know what they say, AL-QUEDA knows what they say....but Sheiffer and Friedman don't know...hmmmmmmmmmmm
Maybe they need remedial reading courses....
Or a new pair of glasses.
Schieffer drinks from Uncle Walter's water cooler.
I agree with Schieffer. Gitmo should be shut down.
Right after all the enemy irregular combatants have been executed.
So..........we should.......let them swim?
Schieffer is stupid and/or dishonorable. To compare Guantanomo to Hanoi is like comparing a palace to a cesspool. If he doesn't know that, he is stupid. If he does know it, he is just another of the dishonorable anti-American media. He is probably both and I wish he would just go flush himself down the toilet along with the rest of the MSM.
I wish that were true; but it is so lackadaisical to say we "don't care what the press thinks" or "I don't know anyone that pays attention to him"..the fact is people do ..the person that just needs one reason to pick up a gun or a grenade or a homemade bomb to toss at our fighting men and women..even maybe you if in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe I overreact but, I can't just push it aside and say..who cares no one watches him anyway or those of his ilk..". Our war in the Middle East will be prolonged because of constant dribble like what comes out of cBS and other like tents of media anti-Bush rhetoric.
If we shut down Gitmo there will be no more complaints?
Friedman knows these are Muslims, doesn't he? Nothing but total victory is good enough for them. It's been commanded.
They will always complain long and loud. Fact or fiction, it's all part of the effort.
It's fine to lie about infidels. Their delicate sensibilities are useful; they aid the cause.
Very interesting....
I know BS when I CBS.....
To save American lives, Guantanamo must be kept open.
Was there another war where we released prisoners while the war was still on?
American honor isn't in jeopardy because of Guantanamo. God, these people have thin skins.
Or a colossal enema.
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