^ I don't see them as prisoners of war. Not the ones at Gitmo. And we don't even KNOW who the detainees are elsewhere (like in Eastern Europe) - we can't even get THAT information. It's a big fat mystery. Which leads me to believe it unlikely that they are Iraqi combatants captured in the war zone.
More likely, they are more of the same - Muslim men, picked up all over the world on suspicious...or even falsified charges (and no...I wouldn't put it past Bush. This is the man who didn't bat an eyelash at executing men in Texas for crimes that OTHER PEOPLE admitted to doing.) and held without cause.
These are not 'prisoners of war'. I see them as being illegally detained individuals...all of whom share the unfortunate characteristic of a Muslim background.
And these individuals have rights under the Geneva Convention. Precious few of which we are abiding by.
I don't believe in any 'War on Terror'. That is just a ridiculously transparent term used as an excuse for the Bush Administration to round up and detain anyone they like, hold them without specific charges indefinitely, and abuse their legal and human rights.
War is declared against a COUNTRY. Not against 'terror'. The Bush Administration made it intentionally vague, jingoistic, and non-tangible precisely BECAUSE they wanted to claim they could do anything they liked, TO anyone they liked, and call all detainees 'prisoners of war' - even if they come from non-combatant countries. In short, being a Muslim man is enough to get one rounded up and declared a 'prisoner of war'. And that just isn't right. It's an abuse of the term 'prisoner of war', IMO. Not to mention being inherently racist.
The fact that Dubya claims they are prisoners of war, in my mind, only adds insult to injury. Because the implication is that we are too dumb to figure out what he's really doing...and who he is really doing it TO.
As for the Republican Party, I am well aware of the fact that they cannot fully control the President. But acting as a GROUP, they can certainly bring pressure to bear. If they really CARED, for example, about ending the gulags in Eastern Europe...or stopping prisoner abuse at Gitmo, they COULD just refuse to pass any of Dubya's requested legislation or his budget. In short, they could revolt and force him to listen.
IF it was that important to them to do the right thing.
As it is....they have all just sat there for 6 years, nodding their heads in agreement. UNTIL November's blood bath at the polls. Now, amazingly enough (NOT) they are all coming out of the woodwork, claiming to actually give a crap about what is happening. But in reality, they don't care about what's right - they care only about re-election.
Shoot...not even that many of them spoke up against TORTURE, 'fer cryin' out loud! They just sat there like lumps, smiling and waving and pontificating about how wonderful Dubya was and how evil the filthy liberals were for even QUESTIONING the Administrations policies.
No...I have precious little respect for the Republican Party these days.
They had the power to bring pressure to bear...but instead they chose to sit by and do nothing - either because they AGREED with these horrendous abuses of human rights...or because they were too cowardly to take a stand against evil.
Anyway...that is the way I see it.