GITMO

The Gauntanomo Bay detention camp is ten years old.

.. steps on to soapbox ....

It was set up after the US Department of Justice advised that it could be considered outside U.S. legal jurisdiction, with the further assertion that detainees were not entitled to any of the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

The parallel with the misuse of offshore bank accounts for tax evasion and money laundering is quite striking. I can't help but note that persons subject to US income tax are required to declare any offshore bank accounts on penalty of perjury.

Is tax evasion by a US citizen worse than law evasion by the US government? Is money laundering worse than laundering people by extraordinary rendition?

I think the whole thing is a disgrace and corrodes any notion of US moral authority.

... descends soapbox ...

Previously at Gitmo:

Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Col. Jessep: You can't handle the truth!
[pauses]
Col. Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

.... and so it goes.