The New Era of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

In case you had not heard, three Navy SEALs are facing criminal charges for allegedly punching a high value terrorist while being detained.  Ahmed Hashim Abed says he’s got the bloody lip to prove it.  If you care to, read about it here.

This isn’t the first time in the last ten months I’ve woken up wondering if I’m in the right country.  I’m going to ignore whether or not these three SEALs did anything wrong because I could not care less about the rights of a terrorist accused of murdering and mutilating four U.S. contractors in Fulluja in 2004.  Why am I ignoring this?  These SEALs did their job capturing a high value target and the thank you this country gives them is criminal charges?  I’ll add this to the growing list of probable reasons our military is having difficulty reaching their enrollment quotas.  Anyone seriously considering a career in our armed services has to wonder if the same Constitution they will swear to protect will also be used by our enemies abroad.  And please don’t wave the Geneva Convention flag in my face.  We can treat our captives on those terms the next time we’ve captured someone meeting the requirements of Article 4.1.2 of the Third Geneva Convention (go look it up).

We can thank President Obama for handicapping our heroes in this “oversees contingency operation” and ushering in a new era of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  Don’t ask our bravest if they mind sharing their constitutional rights with our terrorist enemy.  And don’t tell them never mind, as of January 20^th, 2009 it’s too late.