tinyurl.com/ajkk7 -> www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1441426/posts
CHARLITE It is perhaps not as widely known as it ought to bein light of the hyper ventilating criticism of our alleged treatment of detainees at the US militarys detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cubathat there has never been a single death recorded at the center known by the military as GT MO (pronounced gitmo). It is perhaps also not as widely known that many of the detainees at GTMO do not complain of their treatment. In fact, many detainees report that conditions at GTMO are better than those they suffered fighting coaliti on forces in Afghanistan and Iraq prior to their being captured: at GTMO they are guaranteed three squares a day and time to pray. On the battle field, of course, such luxuries cannot always be afforded to the enemy combatant. Be that as it may, this story is about an incident that took place at GTM O that, so far as Ive been able to discover, went completely uncovered in the Mainstream Press. One is that MSM is not interested, in many cases, in the presentation of news that shows the US military or its coalition partners in a favorable light. I do not think that the majority of members of the press are anti-American, per se, but that jo urnalism in the United States, and in Europe, at least since the late 19 60s, is such that journalists cut their teeth in a culture that teaches them that the effort to appear unbiased is most easily won by overcompe nsating in criticism of the home teamwhoever that might be. We do not expect our sports writers to be unbiased, so they do not suffer from th is essentially immature method of appearing balanced. In news, however, we demand itand the easiest way to appear balanced is to root for the u nderdog. Hence, Western journalism vilifies routinely the efforts of the United States and the UK and all of the Western powers standing between civilization and Islamo-fascism and simultaneously praises Palestinian terrorists as victims of the aggressor Israelwhose defensive wall i s seen by the effete and the elite liberals in the West as too symbolica lly offensive to be tolerated. This is a long way to say that cultures have a way of being blind to thei r own biases and the culture of journalism is no different. Be that as it may, an incident at GTMO deserves attention in the interest of true balance. Robert McGill witnessed an attack by o ne detainee at GTMO upon another in the recreation area in Camp Oneof w hich area, Lt. McGill call in what is essentially a prison SWAT Team to p erform an extraction. and around the world, whereby guards are marshaled in protective gea r and oftentimes with shields, gloves, and masks to move into an area, o verwhelm a prisoner, and remove him or her from danger to others and to themselves. The procedure is calculated to avoid injury to prisoners and to personnel who must engage them in such instances. The situation on May 29th, however, was extreme enough that Lt. McGill de cided in the moment that the best course of action would be to order tho se guards with him to enter the cell to separate the two detainees and r emove the injured one. He ordered this to be done and the order was carried out. The result was that the attacking detainee was successfully subdued and t he injured detainee was removed from the area and given immediate medica l attention for injuries severe enough that it was determined later that a). McGill and those in his command not have acted the detainee most likely would have died and b). the attacking detainee was intent u pon killing the man he attacked. McGill accomplished two extraordinary things: he prevented a murder and saved a life. McGill recently receiv ed a Joint Service Achievement Medal. McGill was quoted as saying I really do nt feel I did a heroic act, actually.
They knew it to be an unsafe s ituation, and they followed my orders anyway. McGill rightly characterizes those in his command wh o followed his orders as heroic and they are to be praised. But too often, our soldiers are vilified for following orders and we te nd to forget that our seamen, our airmen, our soldiers, guardsmen, and m arines are all trained to perform heroic actions by following the orders of one who has been given the authority to make the right decision at t he right time. Certainly the press is right to publicize those moments w hen the wrong decision is made and wrong actions lead to injustice or wo rse. But what of the countless right decisions that are made on a daily basis in the Global War on Terror? McGillswho faithfull y and fully discharge their duties under the weight of a code of honor t hat is routinely ignored by our enemies? McGill exemplifies, then, what is best in our military men and women and especially in those who are put in positions of deciding what it is our fighting men and women are to dowhether it be in the field of battl e, on our bases, or in a detention center like GTMO And, in the end, he also exemplifies what is best about Americans and our coalition partnerswho, in the Global War on Terror routinely extend ri ghts to enemy combatants who themselves fail either to recognize or to e xtend those rights to their very own. When asked what advice he might give to others given what he has learned as a Warden at GTMO, Lt. McGill said Decisions are sometimes hard to ma ke, even though we have excellent . You have to use your he ad and think with your heart and decide what the right thing to do is. A lways do the right thing, that is what is most important. This bears repeating: "Always do the right thing, that is what is most im portant." It also bears mentioning, by way of full disclosure, that Lt. I learned of the May 29th incident in one of my mo nthly conversations with his wife, Sue, who resides with their three chi ldrenalonewhile Lt. McGill does the duty to which he and his family co mmitted long before 9/11. I mention this last only to say that it is a distinct honor and privilege to call not only Lt. Robert McGill my friend, but also to take this occ asion to say publicly how much I admire his wife and their familiesand the spouses and families of all of our military personnelfor the sacrif ices they have endured to insure our freedom and security. McGills of the world that exemplify what is bes t in all of us and I hope that his example inspires not only our militar y, but our civilians to redouble their efforts in support of the Global War on Terrorism. Robert McGill in this article appeared originally in an article by Spc. Jeshua Nace (JTF-GTMO Public Affairs O ffice) called "15 Minutes of Fame with Robert McGill." About the Writer: Gregory Borse holds a PhD from Louisiana State Univer sity, and an MA and BA from the University of Dallas. Borse, a famil y man with "a beautiful wife and four beautiful children," enjoys writin g, current events, media, politics, and disc golf.
You me an that was made up story ant not 100% true like his film about the coll ege wannabe turned pimp, or fighter jock going head to head with MiGs, o r Civil War vet becomming a Samuri, or dock worker battling aleins?
View Replies Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
|
http://csua.com/feed/