Don't let terrorism shred our values

Laurel Anderson (Fence Post, Friday) exemplifies the response by some to any utterance of "terrorism."

Stating "the people at Gitmo must have been suspicious" translates to "anyone arrested by the police must be guilty and we all know that is invariably a correct assumption" so why in the world do we need courts?

The truth is that some of the people at Guantanamo are guilty. No one knows how many; they have no advocates and no one is making any serious effort to find out which are guilty.

Anyone who says a military trial will determine the truth is so obviously unfamiliar with the military justice system that it is sad.

There is a presumption of guilt, the "jury" and the "judge" are in a chain of command that would require a very brave and non-career-minded individual to find anything other than the implied, pre-determined finding.

Even if found "not guilty" in one of these star chambers, do you seriously believe that they would be set free and returned to their home? Have any of the innocent that were swept up received any sort of justice for their unwarranted multi-year incarcerations?

There have been only a couple of tribunals in the years since the Guantanamo Gulag was created.

The theory was that Guantanamo was not U.S. territory was used to circumvent the Constitution since these captives were deliberately hi-jacked from their capture site so that they could be hidden from the eyes of the world and "rendered" where it was deemed a good idea.

To say we have never been in a war where we don't know who the enemy is woefully uninformed. I cannot remember ever meeting (or hearing of) a member of the Viet Cong who was wearing a T-shirt with a big VC on it.

A couple of hundred years ago a bunch of people got together to form a more perfect union.

They did a such good enough job at setting down the basics that their thoughts have survived for a long time through good times and bad.

So many have died to defend the principles written so long ago. Must we continue to shred the Constitution under the false assumption that terrorism is stronger than our founding documents?

Certainly there are those who would torture, maim and kill to further their political agenda; we see them in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Gaza, Sudan, etc. I pity those whose moral values are so lacking that they would stoop to their level.

James Prescott

Schaumburg