Durbin.

This is coolbert:

I see that Senator Dick Durbin is among some high and mighty voices that are now calling for an end to the Guantanamo Bay [Gitmo] Camp X-Ray.

The prison site where captured illegal enemy combatants are being held. The contention is that the prison, and the alleged "abuses" of the illegal enemy combatants are way out of control and the whole business has become a major source of embarrassment for the U.S. This is all occurring in the wake of the Abu Ghraib Iraq prison scandal. And the allegations of mishandling of the holy Koran by U.S. guards and interrogators at Gitmo.

The consensus among critics of Gitmo is that abuses have occurred, are occurring, and will occur unless the camp is closed. And that in addition, the captured illegal enemy combatants must be treated as prisoners-of-war under the Geneva Convention and given all the rights and fair treatment due them.

In the eyes of these critics, it is NOT a question whether or not the prisoners are being treated fairly or not. It seems NO amount of reasoning can convince these critics the prisoners ARE NOT being mistreated.

The critics make the point, have made it in the past and are making the same point now, that, "unless we treat these folks, the captured enemy combatants [and the critics for some reason always seem to NOT include the critical word ILLEGAL], with dignity and respect, we can expect our folks to one day be mistreated in the same way if they are captured!!"

The idea here is of course that perhaps one day, American servicemen will be captured in this long drawn out anti-terrorist, anti-Jihadist war, and, well, "what will we be able to expect as the treatment for our servicemen, if we have mistreated the enemy combatants at Gitmo??!!"

This sort of argument is very revealing to me. What it tells me is that these critics are either very naive or are very misinformed or are totally uninformed in a big way. A way that precludes their making such pronouncements as they have made.

Click here to see a jihadist web site that describes, "The Islamic Ruling on the Permissibility of Executing Prisoners of War".

It seems that the jihadists have already thought out in detail on how prisoners-of-war THEY capture are to be treated. Thought [the jihadis have] this topic through in the most excruciating detail and are clear, in their own minds, on the subject.

The decision on how to treat prisoners the jihadists may capture has ALREADY been arrived at LONG before Abu Ghraib and Gitmo were in the headlines.

This "jurisprudence", Islamic jurisprudence, was used as justification to EXECUTE nine Russians the rebels in Chechyna were holding prisoner. These Russians, members of a para-military police unit [OMON], were captured, and executed by BEHEADING. The bodies were then put on DISPLAY and photos of same put on the internet.

In the words of the jihadis in Chechnya, "The Russian Government has failed to respond to the Mujahideen's demand that the Russian war criminal Budanov be handed over for execution at the hands of the Mujahideen. The Russian Government was warned that should it fail to surrender Budanov, nine Russian prisoners who were caught marauding in a Chechen village would be executed.

The Russian Government has since chosen to shield Budanov and the brutal rape-murder that he committed. In response, we the Mujahideen have fulfilled our pledge to execute the nine Russian OMON special police who were in our custody. (See photographs of executed OMON prisoners)".

LET ME MAKE IT CLEAR SO THAT EVEN A U.S. SENATOR CAN UNDERSTAND THIS. NINE RUSSIANS OMON TROOPS WERE CAPTURED BY CHECHENS. THESE NINE WERE SUBSEQUENTLY EXECUTED IN A GRISLY MANNER AND THEIR BODIES PUT ON DISPLAY!!!!

All of this, again, occurring before Abu Ghraib and the alleged mishandling of the sacred Koran at Gitmo.

Before, before, before!!!! These villains have made a cold, calculating decision to execute prisoners at their whim!! Make no mistake about it. The villains have no qualms as do U.S. Senators about the strength of THEIR cause. And they CAN quote all sorts of Islamic jurisprudence to justify their actions. THEY DO NOT have a problem in merely mistreating any American soldiers they capture. THEY are sure in their righteousness that execution is perfectly legal and justified. To THEM, executing you and placing your body on display is no different than crushing a maggot or cockroach underfoot!!!

See this additional web site discussing the execution of prisoners that occurred in the time of Muhammad by clicking here.

[Personal comments. I hope no one misses the point here. We in the U.S. are talking about the mishandling of the Koran and a few crazies taking pictures of naked Iraqis. These villains are talking about well thought out beheading of American prisoners and justification of same!! Please do not speak of equivalence here!!].

coolbert.