This week I am on shift at our detector site in Soudan, MN. One tradition I have is to have my weekend breakfast at the Tower Cafe in Tower, MN. Tower itself is not a remarkable town. Its population is around 500 people. The cafe serves locals very simple, traditional breakfast fare. It’s the kind of place where the sheriff come in, grabs his coffee cup off the wall and sits down to join in on the conversation.
When I was there today there was a group of 3 men at the far table and myself who took a table by the window. The gentlemen were discussing politics. After I sat down and the waiter took my order, the gentlemen and waiter began talking about ‘Gitmo’ and President Obama’s plans to close it down. Born and raised in a small town in rural Wisconsin myself, I always find these conversations facinating. They bring me back to my roots and give me insight into how my views have changed over time.
The gentlemen at the back of the table stated that Mr. Obama’s plan to close down Guantanamo were largely symbolic. They expressed concern that these prisoners would be transfered to the fedral prison system and that we would need to build more prisons to house them. One stated that we seem to forget that these people took down two towers. They also seemed to be in favor of classifying these prisoners as prisoners of war, which frankly surprised me. It shows that they at least realize to some extent the difficulty these prisoner cause the US.
Those who know me well, realize that I desperately bit my tonge during this conversation. I wanted to point out to them that these people were not the ones who attacked our nation on September 11th, that we know nothing of these people because they are not afforded due process. Many of these people are our fellow citizens, who should have the rights afforded to them under our constitution. Furthermore, I believe that these people, if not enemies on the way in will certianly be enemies on the way out.
So, it seems the politics of fear still reverberates through our population.
