The collapse of America's ideals

Last week David Meyers stated, “What President Bush should have done was execute every detainee at Gitmo in Cuba.” That would have been cold-blooded murder, aside from the fact that not one person held in Guantanamo has been convicted of any crime.

What happened to the bedrock legal principle of innocent until proven guilty? Dozens have been released because the US made gross errors in their arrest. Some were arrested because of mistaken identity — victims of having the same name as a terrorist. Others were simply the targets of local feuds — handed over for the bounty the US was offering - and not for any illegal or terrorist activity they may have committed. Fair and open trials are the means to sort out who is really the enemy and who should go free.

What has our country come to that someone would advocate the murder of innocent people as a substitute for due process of law? I fear this abdication of our constitutional rights and protections much more than I fear any terrorist. The terrorists cannot destroy America and what we stand for; only Americans can do that.

Jon Monday