As the presidential election looms on the horizon, many Americans are looking back at the past eight years spent under the Bush administration as an indication of the type of president they want to vote for. While both candidates hold different positions on the major problems facing Americans today, they can agree on one thing: It is time for a change.
The Obama campaign has been trumpeting its message of change since the early days of the race, and even John McCain seems to shudder when he is associated with Bush.
With our economy in shambles, the war in Iraq dragging on, and our image abroad deteriorating with every second, it's no wonder that only 9 percent of Americans are satisfied with the country's direction, according to a new Gallup poll.
The Bush administration added to its ever-increasing list of blunders this week when a federal judge ordered that it grant release and asylum to 17 prisoners who had been unlawfully held captive in Guantanamo Bay. The prisoners have been held for over six years, even though they have not been considered enemy combatants since 2004.
The group is part of the persecuted Uighur minority in China, and sought refuge in Afghanistan, where they were swept up in the U.S hunt for Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks. They were found with one gun and no bullets, and have denied any involvement in political parties or extremist groups; yet, the 17 prisoners have been stuck in Guantanamo Bay ever since.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, another one of the Bush administration's superb ideas, allowed the prisoners to remain in captivity without the right to a civilian defense attorney or the ability to invoke the human rights laws of the Geneva Convention. Once the embarrassing act was deemed unconstitutional in June, the prisoners were finally allowed habeas corpus, and challenged the reasons for their detention.
With their status as enemy combatants immediately revoked, the prisoners faced an even greater problem: Other nations, fearing retribution from China, refused to take them in as refugees. The administration denied their request for asylum, citing a federal law that states that nobody who has been involved in "terrorist activities" shall be admitted into the United States. With no place to go, the prisoners remained in this Guantanamo limbo.
Granting the men asylum would be the only rightful way to end what amounted to a shameful mistake on the part of the administration. This Thursday, a federal judge ordered the men to be sent to Washington and granted asylum. The administration protests that this decision does not rest in the powers of the judicial branch, and legal proceedings over the future of the 17 men continue.
The case of the 17 Uighur prisoners is just one more example of how careless our war on terror has been thus far. In the name of "securing the American homeland," we have ignored the basic human rights and principles on which that homeland was founded. It is time to begin a new era in our history, one in which America will not be remembered as a blundering invader, but as a beacon of hope for people like the Uighurs, whose country has abandoned them.
In less than three weeks, an imperative decision will change the way the world is run. I urge all of you to look past the politics and consider which candidate will restore the American values that have been so carelessly torn down during the past decade.
Be the first to comment on this article!