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Entry: The Pentagon Needs a Choreographer Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_pentagon_needs_a_choreographer#33214 Post contents: Curt, how sad for those poor guys in Gitmo. I'm sure lots of conservative Americans have lost, collectively, 30 seconds of sleep over their fate. Give me a break. Of course, I hope none of them are innocent. Some probably are, just like in civilian prisons. That's unfortunate and unavoidable, not least because our enemy disregards the entire concept of having uniforms, a chain of command, nor any other easy way to distinguish civilian from combatant. But this is war, and you can't expect the same procedural niceties we enjoy in peacetime civil justice. Nor should we, rather than the Arab race, bear the burden of mistakes and overcaution. Why? Because I'm deeply prejudiced in favor of our own people. As a conservative, I know our government exists first and foremost to protect our rights and the flourishing of our people. It's first duty of loyalty is to a specific and historical people, joined by blood, a shared history, and a common language, not some abstract, deracinated cconcept of "citizens of the world" and suicidal procedural equality. If any of these Arabs and other assorted Third Worlders held there are innocent, that's just tough luck. Lots have been released, of course, some of whom were not innocent and returned to the battlefield. I'd rather err on the side of caution. Mistakes will happen either way, and these non-Americans should be more accustomed than we to something other than a presumption of innocence because of the despotisms under which they were raised (and which they promise). Curt, you should change your name to San Francisco Curt if you think anything happening in Gitmo--other than the failure to have a mass execution of these terrorists--is anything other than an unavoidable injustice incident to a legitimate campaign of deterrence and revenge. Agreed, Gavin. The older tradition is ignore dor forgotten, foreign poliyc is foremost, unsustainable alliances with pacifist internationalists are becoming common, and the part is becoming the whole. We are against alliances, nation-building, and meddlesome involvement out of a combination of justice and self-interest. But very few self-described conservatives, until recently, thought of the world as a would-be utopia if only we'd butt out. Likewise, none was so naive as to think things like the free flow of shipping, access to oil, protection of American forces overseas by invitation of lawful national governments, and the dispatch of international terrorists were not legitmate national interests secured by the prudent application of force and threats of force. As for C Bowen, that's just some real air-tight analysis there. Did you study under Chomsky or the brilliant Gene Callahan? Sent at: 2008 12 02