Update on Sad Gitmo Story

Bridgethought of the Day: Who in the right-wing universe decided it was in our best interests to eliminate the idea of "children"?

One of those children, Omar Khadr, has been caught up in the non-entity "enemy combatant" definition of subhuman, an alien life-form commonly found subsisting in a life-free, soulless, sense-numbing world that would make Big Brother cringe - called Gitmo - a child who has begun to grow up to the ripe old age of 20 - after unspeakable torture and abuse at the hands of Americans just obeying orders from the President and his cronies, now has finally, years later, been formally charged - with murder, spying, and other terrorism-related offenses.

He'll be tried in a military tribunal. No questions about "adult" or "child", since he is now an adult, and who cares how old he was when he was "taken" at the age of 15. Enemy combatants are not arrested. They are "taken". No one reads them their rights. They have no rights. Not even the right to a family. Not even the right to communicate with others. Not even the right to hear, see, or feel. Not even the right to talk. Let alone have friends. Let alone due process. Let alone the right to just be a human being. Let alone the right to be, God forbid, a child.

No, the war on terror does not recognize children. If the child is from a "terrorist group", even if he is an infant, he cannot be defined as a "child" and therefore there is no limit on what atrocities can be committed on him. He is not even an adult. He has no nation, no people, no home, no family, no rights. He is not even a slave. Slaves have owners, who may (or may not) protect them. They can speak, at least. Even have children. But Gitmo residents have none of the above. Who gave the anyone the right to dehumanize another without even due process? How can we give up the very principles we learned from the horrible message of the Holocaust? How dare we descent into the police-state policies that created Hitler's Germany? And who is held to account for this?

No one.

And when will the guilty be tried? Or where? Or by whom?

In the next life. With a Judge they cannot escape.
In the meantime, we need more justice here on earth. Show us the power of your conscience.