What Do They Expect?
by James Glaser
May 21, 2009

Yesterday a column in the New York Times was titled, "1 in 7 Freed Detainees Rejoins Fight, Report Found." The story made it sound like it was a surprise that people we detained at our Guantanamo Bay prison would decide to return to terrorism or military activity.

I was surprised the number was only one in seven. I thought it would be six in seven or even more. Of course, some of the people we held probably are not able mentally to attack us.

I don't know if you remember, but when we first opened that prison, many of the people we sent there had nothing to do with terrorism or attacking America. When we sent those people to that prison in Cuba, we put them in straight jackets, chained them to the floor of a big transport aircraft, and when they arrived, we put them in cages that looked a lot like dog kennels. Concrete floors with wire walls and ceiling.

None of these people were ever tried in a court of law, we tortured them, we wouldn't let their families know they were alive, and on top of that, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told them if they ever got a court date, and were found innocent, they would still never be let go.

They were people with no hope, and no future, and on top of that, we were torturing them. Remember some of these people were in their 70's and some were just kids as young as 14.

I don't know about you, but if you took me to the other side of the world in chains and a straight jacket, locked me up in a wire cage open to the bugs and elements, and then tortured me for years on end, you had better look out if you ever let me go.

The people we let go hate us. Many of these people were innocent, and that is why we let 534 of them go free. Now we say we are surprised because 70 some of them have gone to war against us? I have to say, what did you expect?

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