Glenn Greenwald’s wrote a perceptive piece in today’s Salon about what the Supreme Court did right in the Citizens United case. Although I’m still mulling over whether or not I completely agree with his arguments, I’m concerned here with a sentence tucked away in his article:
“And one can't help but note the vile irony that Muslim "War on Terror" detainees have been essentially declared by some courts not to be "persons" under the Constitution, whereas corporations are.”
One year after Obama declared that he would close down Guantanamo, detainees are still being held without trial – indefinitely. Here’s the real kicker: Obama has decided to continue detention without due process for these detainees.
Almost sounds like one of the many failed policies employed by our last president. In his defense (if one can be made), when President Bush opened Guantanamo, he was faced with a terrified and vulnerable nation, and an uncertain global political environment. In short, given US’s history and actions towards Italians, Jews, and Japanese (among others), racism and racial profiling against Muslims was inevitable.
But it has been nine years. And I am, once again, left to question how, after countless debates over war and foreign policy, after actually fighting two wars, we can still ignore racial politics and blatant injustice? The least that needs to happen here is an actual trial for each of the detainees.
As a side note, a few people on Facebook did not deem today’s story about Gitmo detainees held without trial worthy, since there are so many other issues to worry about (unemployed, health care, bad economy). I hate to say it, but civil liberties is still a right reserved for only some groups in the U.S.
No comments:
Post a Comment