I Smell a Deal and I Hope So

On Monday, April 13, Richard Butler, a British journalist working for CBS, was "rescued" by Iraqi forces from a house in Basra where he had been held for two months after being kidnapped. He was "in very good health condition, mentally and physically," according to the Iraqi Defense Ministry.

On Thursday, May 1, Sami al-Haj, an Al-Jazeera journalist was released by American authorities from U.S. custody at Guantanamo after six years of imprisonment. Upon his arrival in Khartoum, the Associated Press Reports, "He was put on a stretcher and taken straight to a hospital."

The release of the two journalists, within thirteen days of each other may have been purely coincidental, but maybe, it's the first sign of a prisoner exchange. They have one of our journalists, we have one of theirs, let's make a deal.

The Butler release reminds me of the Jessica Lynch "rescue". You may recall that Jessica Lynch was freed from an Iraqi hospital by U.S. special operations forces one day after Iraqi troops had abandoned the building. Butler was freed by American trained Iraqi troops who stumbled across him while on another mission. Butler told Iraqi state television that, "the Iraqi army stormed the house and overcame my guards and they burst through the door." Three of his guards escaped, but one was captured according to what Butler told the BBC.

Mr. Butler had been seized from the Basra Sultan Palace Hotel one day after the Iraqi police had demanded a list of people staying there. His interpreter was also seized, but was released three days later.

Reprieve, a British human rights organization, had been actively pursuing the release of Mr. al-Haj. Reporters Without Borders had been active on behalf of Butler. It would be comforting to think that they worked together and managed to arrange an exchange.

From the beginning of our war in Afghanistan, we have behaved like bullies. The Geneva Convention was not created because the world had suddenly become a nice place. It was created and observed because both sides, in any war, recognized that both sides would capture prisoners and neither side wanted its soldiers tortured. Afghanistan and Iraq were different. In our bullying conceit we were sure that our enemies would never capture any of our guys, or if they did they would have no place to hold them. So, we disgraced, tortured and water boarded the prisoners we captured.

In doing so, we have lost all moral authority to protect the men and women who serve, or will serve, in our armed forces. We have set an ugly precedent that endangers anyone who fights for the United States. We have done our armed forces a massive disservice.

I hope the release of the two journalists is really an exchange of equals. I hope that somewhere in our government someone has finally come to realize that what we do unto them, they can, and will, do unto us.

Comments

[egal]

When Intelligence soldiers explained the reasons we don't torture--from it's utter uselessness in getting true information, to maintaining our presumed appearance of moral superiority; from giving us a bargaining chip with which to prevent the torture of ours to making our enemies more likely to surrender to us--they were told that the Constitution was a dead document, the International Laws and Treaties had no authority over us, we were no longer going to subject ourselves to standards of humanity that our enemies ignored, and we didn't need to maintain any moral standards of decency because we were too powerful to be messed with anyway.

This isn't the kind of situation where "told you so" is appropriate, because our government's failures to treat our suspected enemies humanely has stained our nation's soul as much as it has brought needless pain to us and others that nothing can compensate; but hopefully, we will advance into a time when those who know best inform our policies and those who hold morality higher than profit inform our actions.

God knows our leaders' crimes against us and other nations, and most of all against our soldiers, can't be permitted to continue if we're going to have any sort of future.

[cva39]

Why is Hillary protected from her past? Why does no one mention any of the issues relating to her experience before the year 2000? The cable new shows, the network shows and the candidates all seem to have agreed to ignore these issues. Will the Rodham brothers resume their pardon selling business if she is elected? Did she use good judgement when she fired the travel office workers? Did she use good judgement when she participated in the commodities payoff? Did she use good judgement when she initiated the filegate process? Were there discrepancies with her billing records at the Rose law firms? These alleged misdoings didn't result in indictments or convictions but they certainly raise questions about judgement. Why the free pass? If Obama can be hammered about the Rev. Wright and his tangential association with the weatherman, why can't these issues be brought up about Clinton? Are the republicans in on the same deal (mums the word about the Clinton years)? How about a level playing field?