I've just returned from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Naval Air Station base where we did three shows for the troops and toured several locations around the post visiting with some of the finest military personnel on planet earth. The kids seemed to really enjoy the shows and especially liked "This Ain't No Rag, It's A Flag" and "In America". We had a great time with them. We saw Camp X-Ray, where the Taliban detainees are being held only from a distance, but I picked up a lot of what's going on there from talking with a lot of different people.
The truth of the matter is that this operation is under a microscope. The Red Cross has an on site presence there and watches everything that goes on very closely. The media is not telling you the whole truth about what's going on over there. The truth is that these scum bags are not only being treated humanely, but they are probably better off health wise and medically than they've ever been in their lives. They are fed well, able to take showers and receive state of the art medical care, and have their own Moslem chaplain. I saw several of them in a field hospital ward where they were being treated in a state of the art medical facility.
Now let's talk about the way they treat our people. First of all, they have to be watched constantly. These people are committed and wanton murderers who are willing to die just to kill someone else. One of the doctors told me that when they had Taliban in the hospital the staff had to really be careful with needles, pens and anything else which could possibly be used as a weapon. They also throw their excrement and urine on the troops who are guarding them. And our guys and gals have shown great restraint in not retaliating.
We are spending over a million dollars a day maintaining and guarding these nasty killers and anyone who wants to see them brought to the U.S.A. for trial is either out of their heads or a lawyer looking for money and notoriety. Or both. I wish that the media and the Red Cross and all the rest of the people who are so worried about these criminals would realize that this is not a troop of errant Boy Scouts. These are killers of the worst kind. They don't need protection from us, we need protection from them.
If you don't get anything else out of this soapbox, please try to realize that when you see news coverage much of the time you're not getting the whole story, but an account filtered through a liberal mindset with an agenda. We have two fights on our hands, the war against terror and the one against the loudmouthed lawyers and left wing media who would sap the strength from the American public by making us believe that we're losing the war or doing something wrong in fighting it.
Our military not only needs but deserves our support. Let's give it to them. The next time you read a media account about the bad treatment of the Taliban in Cuba, remember what I told you. Been there done that.
Footnote
I got an e-mail from a rather irate first cousin of mine the other day who has a daughter who's a lawyer and she seemed to think that I was painting all lawyers with the same brush. Please understand that I'm not doing that at all. That would be like saying that all musicians were drug addicts. There are a lot of good and honest attorneys out there. I happen to have one of them, but it seems that they never get any airtime.
It's always the radicals who get their opinions heard; who fight the idea of the military tribunals and cite The Constitution and the integrity of America as their source of justifying their opinions.
Well, first of all The Constitution says "We the people of the United States", it doesn't mention any other country. And secondly as far as integrity is concerned, I don't think some of these folks would know integrity if it bit them in the posterior.
What do you think?
God Bless America Charlie Daniels Copyright 2002 Charlie Daniels All rights under copyright reserved. Used by permission.
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