And What About Santa Claus?

I recognize that there are many balances to be struck, and competing interests to be weighed in that process, in trying to simplify something as complex as our nation's post-9/11 conduct towards its detainees, extraorindary rendition, etc. And let's forget partisan lines for a second. Let's forget that the United States Supreme Court has unequivocally rebuked the lack of oversight in the detention procedures at Guantanamo.

Let's not forget, however, that nobody can argue that numerous U.S. soldiers haven't behaved very very dubiously toward the combatants it detains there, in Afghanistan, and most notably in Iraq. Let's not forget, however, that even as the administration was mocking Newsweek's reporting of Koran-flushing in Afghanistan, numerous independent complaints from Guantanamo were reported by the FBI alleging the exact same practice. And now let's consider Cheney's comments in response to Amnesty International's claim that Guantanamo is a modern answer to the Gulag:

"For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously," Cheney said in an interview that aired Monday on CNN's "Larry King Live."

It's quite clear that he doesn't take AI seriously. No one in this administration does, even though it would rain fire on any country that does the sorts of things to Americans we've been doing to our putative mortal enemies, and even though it continues to lock up non-violent offenders for longer than any other "civilzed" country in the world. But if he doesn't take the allegations seriously, then I don't think we can take him very seriously either.

Cheney's comment, allong with Bush's and Rumsfeld's I know you are but what am I level ripostes to AI can be found here.