No One Reads Kafka At Gitmo

The fact that Guantanamo still exists is an absolute blight on Americas reputation and the cost of that will resonate for many many years into the future even if it were disbanded today (which it really should be). Obama claims his hands are tied but to me that smacks of a lack of resolve, he has several options at his disposal (such as threatening to resign if congress won't bend on this or playing hardball in return on every other subject). It's a pity that America is so tied to the 4 year regimen for elections and that the president does not have a direct way to call for earlier elections (as far as I know).

In the article, Crabapple describes Guantanamo as "a factory consuming money, morals, and decades of human life." The counterpoint that governments (plural, not just the US) are making is that Guantanamo is now a factory for seething hatred that, given the opportunity, would produce new, fanatical warriors for violent jihad. No country wants to take these men on because of this perceived risk. Honestly, given the nature of indefinite detention, most humans probably would harbor a deep-seated hatred for their captors. I'm not saying it's right, but that's the other side of the argument.

I only skimmed this, so I apologize if my sense of it is woefully off mark.<p>I just wanted to say that my fleeting thought was that this reads like one of those odd reports from wealthy fringe tourists who have paid the North Korean regime to witness a choreographed tour of their country-sized Potemkin village (something I find contemptible, but I&#x27;ll put that aside). The amount of procedure invoked by the Gitmo staff and the strictness of the touring directly reminded me of reading an incredulous and boggled report from a visitor to Pyongyang.<p>If this read is even remotely valid, it&#x27;s simultaneously alarming that we have something that elicits a similar emotional response in me <i>and</i> also reassuring that our worst is but a diminutive slice of an island in the Atlantic. However, the alarmist in me worries that our mainland is inching closer and closer to the unthinkable.

What I find interesting about America is the LACK of a Siberia equivalent incarceration system. In other words, why not just make these people disappear? probably because America is so absolutely in love with war profiteering that every single prisoner is politically valuable. I&#x27;ve got $164 million reasons&#x2F;year why they are still incarcerated. At this point I don&#x27;t see how anyone could argue that corporate lobbying isn&#x27;t at the crux of all this.

Why is the Star Trek geek in me reminded of Cardassians?

<i>Ayn Rand shares shelves with Tintin, Eli Weisel and Twilight.... Banned are books with... anti-establishment ideas.</i><p>Poor Ayn Rand.<p>Actually, I wonder if they have <i>The Fifth Head of Cerberus</i>? That&#x27;s just as much a trip as <i>The Trial</i>, and the last novella, &quot;V.R.T.&quot;, would really speak to the abductees at Guantanamo. I&#x27;m not sure how much Wolfe has been translated to Pashto, however.

I guess this relates to technology since it&#x27;s on medium?

Maybe we should send some Kafka.

What an article. I think the legacy of Guantanamo will haunt America forever.

I am sure not many people are reading the Quran either.