Good editorial in the WSJ today regarding Amnesty International, their recent 'gulag' comment, and the treatment of terrorists. Two quick points: it's not just that the gulag comparison is wrong factually; the use of the world gulag carries moral baggage. North Korea has a gulag, Stalinist Russia had one - but the very concept is antithetical to America as an entity. Instead, we have some regrettable, disgusting, isolated instances, not a nationwide policy as in the two communist regimes.
Second, the WSJ makes the point well that Amnesty and similar organizations have not changed their mindset properly to focus on terrorism; the prisoners held at Gitmo, Afghanistan, and Iraq are not political prisoners (at least the vast majority are not); they are terrorists. Good arguments can be made that we need to provide more legal options for these men; calling the prison system a 'gulag' does nothing to move the debate forward.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment