In response to President Obama’s executive order to close
Guantanamo, give the remaining detainees fair trials, and ban torture (you
know, the kinds of basic civil liberties that have governed civilized societies
since the Magna Carta), Fox News has responded with unprecedented fear
mongering.
As you can see in the clip below, they sent a reporter to Pennsylvania, armed with
photos of apparently Muslim men—some in turbans, some simply dark-skinned. They
showed these photos to people on the street and asked, “Would you want
terrorists living in your backyard?”
Let's quickly unpack a few blatant problems
with this question. First, the vast majority of the remaining men at Guantanamo have been held for seven years
with ever being charged with a crime. The Pentagon admits that only five percent of them were picked up on a battlefield, and has already cleared many of them for release. They are no more convicted terrorists
than I am.
And who said anything about housing Guantanamo detainees in a backyard? If these men are brought
to the U.S.,
they will be housed in maximum security prisons. America’s criminal justice system
is the best in the world. Federal courts have convicted 145 people on
international terrorism charges since 9/11—while Guantanamo’s military commissions have made
all of TWO convictions.
Perhaps most egregious of Fox was to associate photos of
random dark-skinned men with terrorists. Let’s remember that many men who look
exactly like the people in these photographs are American citizens. Their kids
attend school with the same kids who watched this outrageous segment on Fox.
Knowing that this level of irrational fear and hatred exists
in millions of families in the U.S.,
those parents who do not watch Fox News have a special
responsibility to teach their children tolerance and the courage to impart tolerance
to their peers.
The best part of this clip is at the end, when the anchors all decide that
the remaining Guantanamo detainees should be
held at Alcatraz—you know, with all those West Coasters who hate America. Um, I hate
to be a nitpicker, but Alcatraz is a theme
park. Would you rather have suspected terrorists held at a theme park than at a
maximum-security prison?
Photo: viralpolitics.com
