I’m going to get in trouble for this
: I’m sorry. I can’t help myself. After hearing the news that youths are being held with other Afghan terrorists and combatants in Cuba, I can’t get Alan King’s Hello, Muddah, Hello, Faddah tune out of my head but with new lyrics:
Hello, Mullah
Hello, Fatwa,
Here I am at
Camp Guantanamo!
They’ve got Korans,
With lots of pages,
They’ve got really big Marines
who guard us in our cages.
But seriously, folks
: OK, I’m sorry. That was wrong. Hold your comments…
When I first heard that juveniles were being held at Guantanamo, I was disturbed.
But yesterday, I listened to the Pentagon briefing reminding us that these youth were alleged to have killed people. And I looked back at some news stories about youth — youth! — being sent in as human bombs by Palestinian nuts. And I reminded myself that these people do not respect their own youth; they send them into battle. I also watched the news, on which a Pennsylvania youth shot up his school; we’ve put these youth in jail.
So holding youth may not be unjustified.
But at the same time, we should not be stupid as we try to win not just wars but also hearts and minds. Is it worth holding a terrorist teen when it’s going to make us look bad?
