Members of the Trans-Atlantic intelligentsia today live unprecedently comfortable and domesticated lives, and enjoy such affluence and personal security that instead of worrying about the basics of survival (like people in the past) they are apt to seek the perfection of their selves. They take care to obtain the finest educations, they select and pursue the most prestigious and gratifying careers, they exercise and jog, and they contemplate with great care all questions of ethics. Even ordinary and banal matters, like cooking lobsters, to them commonly rise to levels of grave and serious concern.

So exquisite and precieux have become the souls of our contemporary elites that they simply cannot bear to contemplate the idea of themselves (or anyone else) inflicting suffering on human or animal, crustacean or terrorist.

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When I was a little boy, I once had a dog I loved very much, but who was unfortunately a very bad dog. You couldn’t walk him on a leash: he was strong, willful, and could pull even an adult off his feet.

My dog would obey no one. He terrorized the neighborhood, and frequently treed one neighbor’s cat. One day, he escaped from our backyard, and proceeded to the unimaginable atrocity of attacking a neighbor’s freshly washed sheets drying outdoors on a clothes-line. He tore most of them to shreds, and soiled the rest. My father had to face a female neighbor’s righteous wrath, and he had to make expensive restitution.

I woke up one morning shortly afterward to find my beloved dog missing.

I was heartbroken, but my parents explained that, though he was a wonderful dog, he had not really been happy living in a town (where he would get into trouble playing with people’s bed sheets). So they decided it would be best for him to go and live on a farm in the country, a place where dogs could run free.

The farm was a wonderful place, and a dog could have fun all day doing all the things he liked to do. The farmer was delighted to own such a wonderful dog, and this was the best possible arrangement for everyone. I missed my dog, of course, but I was happy to think of him happy, safe, and enjoying himself.

Many years later, when I was an adult, my father admitted to me that he took that dog up on the mountain, fired both barrels of his 12 gauge shotgun into him, and walked away.

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In a lot of ways, our intelligentsia today are like children. They have no first hand experience commonly of the harsh and difficult choices adults have to make. And, like children, they are naive and sentimental, and do not understand evil.

What the rest of us need to do for Justice Stevens, Andrew Sullivan, and the Trans-Atlantic chattering classes generally is just explain that those Islamic terrorists weren’t happy in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Guantanamo Bay. They were only getting into trouble. So we had to let them all go off and live on the farm, where they could run free, set off all the bombs they like, and do all those other fun Islamic things they like to do. The farmer had never seen such wonderful terrorists, he said. He used to raise terrorists, he said. He loved terrorists, and he was delighted to adopt these.

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that President Bush did not have authority to set up the war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and found the “military commissions” illegal under both military justice law and the Geneva convention.

Fox News & AP

Andrew McCarthy wrote an earlier post-mortem predicting the Court would rule wrongly, but it appears that the decision will be worse than expected.

If the Supreme Court of the United States really takes it upon itself to extend Geneva Convention Rights to terrorists and illegal combatants, George W. Bush ought to take Andrew Jackson’s position, and tell Justice Stevens to go enforce his own ruling.

Rush Limbaugh was among the first to poke fun at wildly over-stated left-wing claims of American abuse of Islamic terrorist detainees at Guantanamo. He even waggishly offers for sale at RushLimbaugh.Com “Club Gitmo” T -shirts, bearing I got my free Koran and Prayer Rug at Gitmo in large print.

And Limbaugh gets the last laugh too, it seems. Britain’s left-wing Guardian tracked down three teenage former Guantanamo detainees, subsequenty released, to their villages in Southeastern Afghanistan. The former prisoners gave Club Gitmo positive reviews. Said one Afghan:

Prison life was good… The food in the camp was delicious, the teaching was excellent, and his warders were kind. “Americans are good people, they were always friendly, I don’t have anything against them,” he said. “If my father didn’t need me, I would want to live in America.”

“I am lucky I went there, and now I miss it. Cuba was great,” (said another former detainee.)

During his 14-month stay, he went to the beach only a couple of times – a shame, as he loved to snorkel… He spent a typical day watching movies, going to class and playing football.

ISN# 049 – 8 pages – Detainee: W (Detainee has two names. He admits that one is an alias.) (Arabic name, origin unclear, somewhere “with harder and stronger weapons” than at Al Farouq and where 30,000 Americans visit evey year and “go about having fun.” Has been in Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.)

Reasons for Detention:

There are no official statements in this transcript. Detainee admits that he went to Afghanistan from Saudi Arabia for a job consisting of “preparations” (for armed defense). He did not need small arms training. He was already familiar with them, as they are common in his homeland. He was at Al Farouq for two weeks. He had a rifle. He left the camp with a group, after 11 September 2001, and went to Khost, where after three months he was injured by the accidental explosion of a grenade in the possession of another person. He was seriously injured, stayed in two hospitals, and had several operations. He admits to having previously been in Palestine, and to being familiar with the use of the Kalashnikov, the M-16, and grenades.

Detainee’s position:

Denies that he desired to become a jihadi. There were Americans he could have attacked in his hometown, if he wanted to attack Americans. He went to the Al Farouq camp, looking for work. He was there, but did not train there. You should not judge someone as an enemy combatant, just because he went to Afghanistan or attended the camp in Al Farouq. He went there because he needed a job.

JDZ Conclusions:

It is impossible to answer many of the questions we are trying to resolve with respect to a case like this one where we only have a transcript of one hearing. It is not a very good defense. He obviously trained with Al Qaeda, and bore arms against the Coalition. His history is not revealed clearly, but the alias and his past presence in Palestine certainly provoke further suspicion. I certainly would not release him.

ISN# 055 – 10 pages – Detainee: M (Saudi)

Reasons for Detention:

Detainee traveled from his home in Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, via Kuwait and Pakistan, in March 2001. He was trained at the Al Farouq camp in the use of the AK-47 and rocket propelled grenades. Detainee carried a rifle, and engaged in military operations against both the Northern Alliance and US forces. Detainee retreated from the battlefield to Pakistan, where he surrendered as part of a group of thirty men to Pakistani forces.

Detainee’s position:

Detainee says he was at Al Farouq and trained with rifle and pistol, but not RPG. He says that he had been recruited in Saudi Arabia by Saleh al Harbi to be trained at Al Farouq. His intention, he says, was to fight in Chechnya. He denies fighting against both the US and the Northern Alliance. He says he left Al Farouq, prior to September 11, 2001, because of a quarrel with a trainer named Abu Haruya. He says he went to Kabul, and did not participate in the war, then left Kabul to travel to Pakistan via Khost in the company of fellow residents of the same house in Kabul. He denies membership in Al Qaeda or the Taliban.

JDZ Conclusions:

After reading a few of these, one senses a pattern. An effort is made to deny being a combatant against US or Coalition forces, but many of these detainees still fail to deny travelling to Afghanistan for training at the Al Qaeda facility ar Al Farouq. This detainee simply claims that he had made a personal farewell to arms conveniently just in time to avoid incurring responsibility for participating in the fighting against the US or its allies. The circumstances of his surrender in Pakistan contradict his story that he was travelling with a random group of housemates. It would have needed to have been a large house to accomodate 30 insurgents. We do not have a detailed account of the arrest of his group in Pakistan, but the US record states that the group of 30 surrendered to Pakistani forces. The use of the term “surrender” suggests strongly that the group was carrying arms. Mere post-defeat-and-capture claims of innocence of hostile intentions toward the United States are insufficient to exculpate known attendance at a terrorist training camp.  I would not release him.

ISN# 507 – 8 pages – Detainee: (Unnamed) (Saudi)

Reasons for Detention:

Detainee travelled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, via Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan in July 2001. The detainee’s name was found on a list of trust accounts for Al Qaeda mujehidin captured in raids on Al Qaeda safe houses in Pakistan between 11 September 2002 and 1 March 2003. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States or its coalition partners. The detainee fled to Zubair Centre in Tora Bora in November 2001 where he was wounded in an air strike. The detainee was captured by coalition forces while convalescing at an unknown location.

Detainee’s position:

Detainee worked as a driver in Saudi Arabia, driving female teachers from his city to the next city. Detainee says that he went to Afghanistan as a tourist, and to study religion with Jamaayat al Tabliq (Islamic Missionary Society, often an Al Qaeda front), and because he is afflicted “with magic and demons or magic and the devil,” and if someone from Jamaayat al Tabliq read the Koran over him, the demon would be cast out. He originally intended to go to Afghanistan for two or three weeks, depending on whether he was enjoying his stay. He met some members of Jamaayat al Tabliq at a mosque in Pakistan, and travelled with them. He was robbed by the Afghans, who took his passport, watch, wallet, and shoes, and held him prisoner for a month, before turning him over to the Americans. He says elsewhere that he never fought,and resolved to surrender to the Americans himself in order to avoid being killed.

JDZ Conclusions:

It seems remarkable how much Saudi tourism was underway in Afghanistan just at the time of the US invasion. I had never known of Afghanistan’s need for Islamic missionary activity, or its particular suitability as a site for exorcism of personal demons. “Who, me? I’m not a foreign jihadi. I’m just another tourist from Saudi Arabia with no passport, as I too was robbed by the Afghans.” One begins to suspect that the US tribunals get a bit tired of hearing the tourist robbed by the Afghans line. No, I don’t believe him, and I would not release him.

ISN# 245 – 19 pages – Detainee: S (Saudi)

Reasons for Detention:

Detainee is associated with Al Qaeda. He travelled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan via Quetta, Pakistan. He spent 9 months in Afghanistan, receiving training at the Al Qaeda Camp at Al Farouk. He participated in military operations against the Coalition, carrying a rifle.

Detainee’s position:

The detainee played games at length, demanding a new personal representative, complaining he had been mistranslated, but refusing to answer questions or identify specifically where he thought he had been inaccurately quoted. He did not apparently retract the statements:

I was trained at Al Farouq on the Kalashnikov rifle. I did carry a weapon, but not in battle. A lot of people went to the mountains. I was given a a weapon to protect myself and five others. Each person had to guard the group of people for one hour. We were in a burrow approximately the size of this room.

Although he refused to clarify his position on which earlier statements he desired to deny, he still apparently intended to try to distinquish carrying a rifle in the mountains from bearing arms on the battlefield. He simply declined to answer a direct question as to whether he participated in military operations at Tora Bora.

JDZ Conclusions:

He is obviously a jihadi, who travelled to Aghanistan to fight the Coalition. He was trained by Al Qaeda. One infers from his refusal to deny it that he was indeed at Tora Bora. At the time of this hearing, he was still arrogant and obviously held his captors in contempt. He made repeated cynical (and naive) efforts to exploit Western due process and respect for a defendant’s rights to try to frustrate the operation of the tribunal. I would not release him.

ISN# 581 – 21 pages -Detainee: S (Pakistani)

Reasons for Detention:

He was a member of the Taliban, and held a high-ranking position as a military judge, in which position he tortured, maimed, and murdered Afghani nationals.

Detainee’s position:

He says that he has previously also been accused of being Deputy Foreign Minister and of being a prison guard in Kandahar named Bacha. He says he once went to Afghanistan for two days to attend a funeral. He says he is a chicken farmer. He also worked part-time providing religious instruction a local school.

In January 2002, Pakistani authorities came to his house looking for looted artifacts. He had none, and they took him to the police station, where they demanded bribes. He would not pay, so they put him in jail for 36 days, then identified him as a person they were looking for, who had a similar name. His testimony is supported by letters from a brother and a son in Pakistan.

DZ Conclusions:
He seems to have evidence confirming his identity as different from that of the Taliban judge. No evidence that he is that person he is accused of being is cited. His statements of not seeing weapons in many years seem to be an exaggeration, and may possibly have been taken by the tribunal as impeaching his entire testimony. Reading this transcript, however, I find no real evidence against him, and am obliged to suppose that he is not the person he is accused of being. I would release him.

ISN# 068 – 19 pages – Detainee: X (not named) (Saudi)

Reasons for Detention:

Associated with Jama’at al Tabligh (an Islamic missionary organization commonly used as an Al Qaeda cover). Captured by Pakistani forces with group of Al Qaeda mujahedin. His name was on a list of Al Qaeda mujehedin seized from an Al Qaeda safehouse in Pakistan.

Detainee’s position:

Denies being a member of Jama’at al Tabligh. Says he was arrested at the airport travelling from Afghanistan to Pakistan with no passport.

He says that he is a high school graduate and works for the chamber of commerce. He claimed to have been on a one month summer vacation devoted to a personal mission correcting Islamic errors (which he later extended). He started in Dubai, and then proceeded to Pakistan for three months, then to Afghanistan for one month. He says his passport was stolen. Claimed complete ignorance of Al Qaeda and Taliban.

JDZ Conclusions:

This detainee has a great deal more to say than the others. But his story of readily expandable vacations, random travel decisions, and ignorance of politics is not compelling. What is a Saudi doing in Afghanistan at the time of the US invasion, other than being a jihadi?

There is a possibility that he is telling the truth, but some actual evidence and the weight of the circumstances are completely against him. I would not release before the conclusion of hostilities.

SN# 342 – 5 pages – Detainee: M (Saudi Arabian)

Reasons for Detention:

M was arrested by Pakistani police in Quetta 25 November 2001. M. was identified as a member of Al Qaeda by several witnesses. He is reported to have been a member of the security team assigned to Al-Nashri, Al Qaeda Persian Gulf commander linked to the attack to the USS Cole. He is reported to have been the manager of the Al Qaeda guesthouse in Kabul. He is reported to have been on a Taliban airplane carrying fighters to Northern Afghanistan. He was identified as an Al Qaeda member by a former guard at Osama bin Laden’s complex in Kandahar.

From December 2000 to November 2001, he traveled extensively. His passport records his visiting Saudi Arabia (several times), Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and Malaysia. A Malaysia stamp was used by Al Qaeda in passport forgery used to eliminated evidence of travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan. His passport stamp record conflicts with information reported by Saudi Arabia.

Detainee’s position:

Denies everything. Declines to take Islamic oath.

JDZ Conclusions:

Clearly an Al Qaeda terrorist. I would not consider releasing him for a moment. He is probably an accomplice in capital crimes.

ISN# 965 – 9 pages – Detainee: H (Afghan)

Reasons for Detention:

H was captured by US forces, when stopped at a checkpoint. H was wearing an olive-green field jacket and was with a group of persons observed caching weapons recently used against US forces. Medical examination post-capture detected hearing impairment likely to result from firing weapons.

H was allegedly raised and employed by a low level Taliban commander named Mullah Mohammed Shah.

Detainee’s position:

Denies everything. Asserts that he is a farmer. Has never seen the Taliban. Does not even know what a rifle or a pistol is.

JDZ Conclusions:

It is evident that H was detained on suspicion and has been held on the basis of not implausible circumstantial evidence. It is probable that he did commit hostile acts against US forces. He was captured by US forces. He is plausibly connected to the Taliban. I found it impossible to form any opinion on the truth or falsehood of his denials, until we got to his denials of even knowing what a rifle or a pistol is.

Q: Did you ever use a rifle or a pistol or anything like that?

A: I have not used it. If I do not know it, how is it possible that I have used it?

Here H strains credulity to the breaking point. It is not possible to believe that any male rural Afghan does not know what weapons, particularly rifles and pistols, are. H has persuaded me that he is lying.

H is clearly a rural Afghan, who probably did fire on US forces in defense of his local authorities. He seems to be an insignificant foot soldier type. I think he should be released as soon as there was no organized hostile force he could rejoin, as long as he takes a credible oath to keep the peace. Evidently, US authorities believe organized hostile forces still exist, and in those circumstances, I believe they are justified in continuing to detain him.

JDZ, author/publisher of the Never Yet Melted Blog, will be participating in the bloggers’ study of Gitmo documents initiated by Edward Morrissey of the Captain’s Quarters blog to determine the validity of the Mark Denbeaux and Joshua W. Denbeaux Profile Study of 517 Guantanamo Bay Detainees which concludes:

1. Fifty-five percent (55%) of the detainees are not determined to have committed any hostile acts against the United States or its coalition allies.

2. Only 8% of the detainees were characterized as al Qaeda fighters. Of the remaining detainees, 40% have no definitive connection with al Qaeda at all and 18% are have no definitive affiliation with either al Qaeda or the Taliban.

3. The Government has detained numerous persons based on mere affiliations with a large number of groups that in fact, are not on the Department of Homeland Security terrorist watchlist. Moreover, the nexus between such a detainee and such organizations varies considerably. Eight percent are detained because they are deemed “fighters for;” 30% considered “members of;” a large majority – 60% – are detained merely because they are “associated with” a group or groups the Government asserts are terrorist organizations. For 2% of the prisoners, a nexus to any terrorist group is not identified by the Government.

4. Only 5% of the detainees were captured by United States forces. 86% of the detainees were arrested by either Pakistan or the Northern Alliance and turned over to United States custody. This 86% of the detainees captured by Pakistan or the Northern Alliance were handed over to the United States at a time in which the United States offered large bounties for capture of suspected enemies.

5. Finally, the population of persons deemed not to be enemy combatants – mostly Uighers – are in fact accused of more serious allegations than a great many persons still deemed to be enemy combatants.

I am currently reading through the cases in set number 22.

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Mr. Morrissey’s initial call for the study is here.