Shortly after the election Barack Obama was poised to close Club Gitmo and either send the detainees to other countries or move them into our prison system. Now it seems Barry has decided to keep Gitmo open, secure the detainees indefinitely and to restart military tribunals. In effect, the Bush doctrine is under new management. So why would he do this? When he was in the Senate, it was Bush’s job to keep the US safe and to fight terror. Senator Obama had the luxury of speaking against the war, against the troops and against abuses—real or pretend. As president, any attack after his soft stance on terror would screw up his legacy. It seems their only threat is to the memory of the Obama presidency.

Those who know me and my views on liberty and freedom, may find it odd that I am in support of Guantanamo and military tribunals. The war we have been fighting since 911 is unlike any in recent history. For most of our history, going to war involved a set location with defined borders and a specific enemy. In this war there are no borders, no uniforms and no single nation against which we can pour our national wrath. Possibly the closest war to this was against the Barbary pirates under Thomas Jefferson. Had the men in Gitmo chosen to fight under the flag of a foreign country, they would be traditional Prisoners of War with all the protections of international law, held only for the duration. If they had been domestic terrorists, like the Oklahoma City bombers they would be subject to US law and have the protections of our legal system. However, these combatants chose to recognize no nation, follow no laws, wear no uniform and to use any means at their disposal to kill, main and terrorize our citizens. Their goal was to disrupt our lives and abrogate our freedoms through the use of any means possible. Their disposition is not a matter of human rights and maintenance of the dignity due an honorable enemy. It is a matter of keeping what amounts to little more than animals locked away where they can do no more harm. You choose to act like a dog; you find yourself in the pound. They chose their form of war, so they leave us no choice but to use our most effective tools to find, detain or kill them. This is War!