Guantanamo Blindspot

The coverage of the terrorist suicides at Guantanamo Bay have elicited the predictable mainstream media coverage-- and a concern for a load of murderers that the media rarely shows for their victims. Reuters, not surprisingly, fielded a report that is little more than an opinion piece demanding the shutdown of Camp Delta, which includes this piece of boilerplate:

They have been held for more than four years, most without charges and face indefinite detention with none of the rights afforded prisoners of war or criminal suspects in the U.S. justice system.

This has been rolled out so often that there's probably a macro on many journalist's computers for it. What the MSM is either ignorant of, or chooses to ignore, is that this is entirely irrelevant. The prisoners at Guantanamo are not according POW rights nor are they treated as criminal suspects for a very simple reason: They are neither.

They are not criminal suspects for the very simple reason that the MSM refuses to acknowledge, which that we are at war and these are the enemy. These men were taken on the battlefield and not in a police operation-- which is a difference that shouldn't matter. The fact that most terrorists arrested in domestic police operations are treated as common criminals and not enemy combatants has been one of the greatest obstacles in fighting the Jihadists. The inmates are also not POWs, because they are in violation of the rules of war that would afford them such status. They do not operate under a proper authority, do not carry weapons openly, do not wear uniforms, and commit war crimes as standard operating procedure.

This leaves them with only one status under the Geneva Conventions: Spies and saboteurs. What rights does this give them? None whatsoever. What the MSM refuse to mention is that the amenities the American's afford their prisoners are nothing less than a display of chivalry. The Americans are under no obligation to give terrorists prayer mats and Korans. They do not need to give them food that suits their religion. They do not need to build them special accommodations or give them access to lawyers. By their very actions, the terrorists have abandoned any claim to these. The only thing the Americans must do is put the prisoners before a military tribunal to determine their status. Beyond that, to put it bluntly, the Americans have the right to do everything up to and including summary execution.

As to the suicides, the MSM suddenly seems to forget that we face an enemy for whom killing themselves is not an "act of despair," but a basic tactic. The commander of Guantanamo put it best. They are,

an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us.