Marine who built Gitmo: US lost moral high ground

[Modbert]

Marine who built Gitmo: US lost moral high ground - Yahoo! News

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – The Marine commander who built the Guantanamo Bay prison said Thursday the U.S. lost the "moral high ground" with its brutal treatment of prisoners, and the facility should be closed as quickly as possible.

It was the first time Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert publicly acknowledged his doubts, although he said he did make his concerns known through the appropriate chain of command.

Lehnert, 58, was commander of Joint Task Force 160 when it was assigned to build prison cells in 2001 at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba to hold designated "enemy combatants" from Afghanistan and elsewhere.

He said he was given little guidance from the Pentagon, but he did have his staff read the Geneva Convention, the international agreement governing treatment of prisoners.

"I wanted to run it close to Geneva Convention rules," Lehnert said. "Our job was to take them out of the fight, and once we had done that, I felt we had a moral responsibility to take care of them."

Lehnert now oversees seven West Coast Marine bases. He retires Tuesday.

Thoughts? Surprised this is the first I heard about this.

 

[Care4all]

We did lose the moral high ground...we were immoral in some of our treatment of prisoners throughout this entire war imo. And this is what started people, even republicans, and sincere followers of Christ, against president Bush...along with the handling of Katrina...the high ratings plummeted on president bush right as Abu Ghraib pictures surfaced....then the focus on treatment in guantanamo.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

We need to let these detainees loose in the Blue States.

 

[JW Frogen]

The view is better from the moral high ground but it is much easier to fly planes into it.

 

[Ringel05]

Being very aware that high ranking military officers and politicians always have some ulterior motive when "coming out" with "revelations" or opinions I never take anything they say at face value.
I wonder if he's planning on writing a book?

 

[Care4all]

We need to let these detainees loose in the Blue States.

you are batty! and UNAMERICAN!

 

[mdn2000]

Another case of the Marines only needing "A few good men", this is obviously not one of the good men

 

[PubliusInfinitum]

Marine who built Gitmo: US lost moral high ground - Yahoo! News

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – The Marine commander who built the Guantanamo Bay prison said Thursday the U.S. lost the "moral high ground" with its brutal treatment of prisoners, and the facility should be closed as quickly as possible.

It was the first time Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert publicly acknowledged his doubts, although he said he did make his concerns known through the appropriate chain of command.

Lehnert, 58, was commander of Joint Task Force 160 when it was assigned to build prison cells in 2001 at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba to hold designated "enemy combatants" from Afghanistan and elsewhere.

He said he was given little guidance from the Pentagon, but he did have his staff read the Geneva Convention, the international agreement governing treatment of prisoners.

"I wanted to run it close to Geneva Convention rules," Lehnert said. "Our job was to take them out of the fight, and once we had done that, I felt we had a moral responsibility to take care of them."

Lehnert now oversees seven West Coast Marine bases. He retires Tuesday.

Thoughts? Surprised this is the first I heard about this.

Actually, the US didn't lose the moral high ground... Detainees at Gitmo were and remain being treated better than criminals serving time in US prisons.

The ideological left fostered a pretense of such... and the ideological Left has no principle of Morality against which such a notion can rest.

They're liars... they already loathe America; and their cohronic desire to change America should be all anyone needs to recognize that.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

Marine who built Gitmo: US lost moral high ground - Yahoo! News

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – The Marine commander who built the Guantanamo Bay prison said Thursday the U.S. lost the "moral high ground" with its brutal treatment of prisoners, and the facility should be closed as quickly as possible.

It was the first time Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert publicly acknowledged his doubts, although he said he did make his concerns known through the appropriate chain of command.

Lehnert, 58, was commander of Joint Task Force 160 when it was assigned to build prison cells in 2001 at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba to hold designated "enemy combatants" from Afghanistan and elsewhere.

He said he was given little guidance from the Pentagon, but he did have his staff read the Geneva Convention, the international agreement governing treatment of prisoners.

"I wanted to run it close to Geneva Convention rules," Lehnert said. "Our job was to take them out of the fight, and once we had done that, I felt we had a moral responsibility to take care of them."

Lehnert now oversees seven West Coast Marine bases. He retires Tuesday.

Thoughts? Surprised this is the first I heard about this.

I'm not surprised you would take a reporters word for anything. You do know that the Major General's words were taken out of context.

"I think it is extraordinarily important how we treat prisoners,"

No where in any of his quotes did he say anything about "brutal treatment of prisoners".

You people are so fucking stipud!!!

 

[bodecea]

We need to let these detainees loose in the Blue States.

Why don't you do your patriotic duty (and save the rest of us the job), and volunteer to go shot the prisoners. No muss, no fuss. No loose ends.

 

[bodecea]

Another case of the Marines only needing "A few good men", this is obviously not one of the good men

Obviously. His moral compass was still working.

 

[Sunni Man]

I have dozens of muslim friends from just about every muslim country you can name.

One thing all of them admired about America was our adherence to the rule of law and due process for anyone arrested.

Something that most didn't have in their native countries.

But since 9/11 their veiws dramatically changed.

News reports and revelations about the treatment and torture of prisoners in Gitmo, Abu Ghraib; and the kidnapping of people all over the world, euphemistically call "renditions" by our government.

Now most see the United States as no different than the strong man dictatorships that rule their home countries.

Yes, America has lost the moral high ground; and it will take a long time to ever gain it back.

 

[Ringel05]

I have dozens of muslim friends from just about every muslim country you can name.

One thing all of them admired about America was our adherence to the rule of law and due process for anyone arrested.

Something that most didn't have in their native countries.

But since 9/11 their veiws dramatically changed.

News reports and revelations about the treatment and torture of prisoners in Gitmo, Abu Ghraib; and the kidnapping of people all over the world, euphemistically call "renditions" by our government.

Now most see the United States as no different than the strong man dictatorships that rule their home countries.

Yes, America has lost the moral high ground; and it will take a long time to ever gain it back.

At this point I would say it has more to do with the spin that was and is still presented in their (and some of our) medias than the actual news itself.

 

[PubliusInfinitum]

I have dozens of muslim friends from just about every muslim country you can name.

One thing all of them admired about America was our adherence to the rule of law and due process for anyone arrested.

Something that most didn't have in their native countries.

But since 9/11 their veiws dramatically changed.

News reports and revelations about the treatment and torture of prisoners in Gitmo, Abu Ghraib; and the kidnapping of people all over the world, euphemistically call "renditions" by our government.

Now most see the United States as no different than the strong man dictatorships that rule their home countries.

Yes, America has lost the moral high ground; and it will take a long time to ever gain it back.

At this point I would say it has more to do with the spin that was and is still presented in their (and some of our) medias than the actual news itself.

Spin? Spin is simply a term of PC relevance which hopes to disarm oen's perspective... the MSM reporting on US treatment of Terrorists, is not 'spin', it's a flat out LIE.

The US hasn't tortured anyone that didn't richly deserve it... the notion that 'no one deserves to be tortured' is total bullshit... there's not a SINGLE ONE of those cockpolishers who are makin this claim that, when faced with their Parents, siblings, best friends, Spouse, child..., being at imminent risk of being murdered, where they had access to an individual who they reasonably believed had overtly taken action to set their loved one's at risk; and who had the information which would spare those loved one's would not engage in the application of mind bending, life altering pain to cull that information from that individual...

The entire premise is beyond nonsense and amounts to that which is closer to sedition, than 'reporting...'

 

[Sunni Man]

First you say, "it's a flat out LIE" by the media that prisoners were tortured.

Then you say, "The US hasn't tortured anyone that didn't richly deserve it".

All of this in one post.

So which is it PubicInfinitum????

 

[mdn2000]

I have dozens of muslim friends from just about every muslim country you can name.

One thing all of them admired about America was our adherence to the rule of law and due process for anyone arrested.

Something that most didn't have in their native countries.

But since 9/11 their veiws dramatically changed.

Now most see the United States as no different than the strong man dictatorships that rule their home countries.

QUOTE]

You should educate your freinds if they see no difference in our leaders than dictatorships, as you know there is big difference.