Protecting our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

For the last twenty years, our country has been increasingly divided over many things. Often, these divisions are based on one liners that politicians make and the media replays continuously as sound bites to rile the emotions of their audience(s).


The political furor over the use of torture and the detention center at "Gitmo" is a prime example of our country being divided based on quick trailers running across the bottom of our TVs and repeated sound bites with no substance. How many of us know any more than what we hear on the news? How many of us just parrot what we hear our favorite politician say or what our favorite talking head repeats without any verification, detail or real knowledge of the subject?


Our government, being lead by both President Bush and President Obama have tried to protect our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Two of the major threats to these three real aspects of life, all of us should hold dear and near to our hearts, is Al Qaeda and Islamo Fascists in general.


In my view, the Bush administration did not do enough. They did not communicate the threat well to the American people, they erected sham agencies like the TSA, and failed to bring the full force of the United States against our enemies around the world. What they did do was to prevent another major attack. They took action against Al Qaeda, an organization that had been ignored by America for too long. Unfortunately to gain our attention, it took the loss of the right to life by almost three thousand of our fellow citizens, the loss of the pursuit of happiness by millions in their family, friends, coworkers and neighbors; and it came at the expense of our personal liberty.

During the last Presidential election cycle the issues surrounding torture, the detention center at Gitmo and the war on terror became polarized. Candidate Obama ran against the practices of the Bush Administration. One of his campaign promises was to shut Gitmo and end the torture of detainees. One of his first orders, as President, was start the process of shuttering Gitmo. He has also revised interrogation techniques etc. But, in recent days and weeks, there has been some back peddling by President Obama. Some of his new practices and policies are much like those of the old Bush Administration. There is some press coverage of the disappointment of some who have followed, supported and voted for President Obama, but very little detail on why we are not seeing real CHANGE in our practices concerning detainees at Gitmo. Why would he abandon real CHANGE, for just superficial changes? Because the situation is complex. I think the President, regardless of his campaign promises, will do what he truly thinks is best for the country and what he thinks the government needs to do to protect us.

Before we all jump to judge, as responsible citizens, we should all learn the details of what is going on. Spend a few minutes reading the article by Arthur Herman at http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/special-preview--the-gitmo-myth-and-the-torture-canard-15154 . Once I read it, I understood more around the whole Gitmo situation, why the "torture memos" were written, etc.

As Americans, we have to make educated decisions and take action. We need to educate ourselves on the issues that face us beyond the sound bites we hear in passing. As individuals, we need to communicate to our leadership about how we really feel about issues and what we expect of them as our representatives. Contact your Congressmen and Senators. Most of all as a country, we need to focus our efforts on protecting our country and fighting those that truly want to destroy us. Often, I feel those that are polarizing us with shallow news items and interviews are distracting us from those that are killing us with airliners, car bombs, beheadings, etc.

The press will spin President Obama's policies and actions many different ways. I believe, in the situation surrounding Gitmo, regardless of his original intentions, he has found that the Bush era policies and practices will need to be maintained.

Have a great day and God bless America.