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by Marcus Brooks

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Considering it took over a year to clear away debris from the Twin Towers, I'm amazed with bipartisan debates swirling about "protecting" the rights of terrorists who killed over 3,000 innocent Americans. Do the Geneva Conventions have an area for fanatics who murder civilians? Understand, these killers aren't "soldiers" as they claim. A holy war or jihad isn't a conventional war. It's a war that involves blowing up civilian "targets" with homicidal bombers, kidnapping and killing noncombatants and using their own countrymen as human shields to deter reprisal attacks.

U.S. practices in conventional war have changed since the Korean Conflict(1950-1953). Unfortunately, incidents of murdering unarmed prisoners have increased. War crimes occurred in Vietnam(My Lai), Afghanistan(Kandahar)and Iraq(Hahida and Fallujah). Though inexcusable, there were no front lines of battle. These were conflicts where battles had broken out with civilians around. When our armies made mistakes, their generals were the first to acknowledge and apologize for them? Have the terrorists done any of that? Since 2001, American forces have housed over 8,000 terrorists and insurgents at Guantanamo Bay.

Have the terrorists treated Western hostages as prisoners of war? Play back the grotesque images of American contractors, British nationals, and Iraqi security forces being beheaded and hacked to pieces by Al-Zaqarawi and his terror network. Critics have chastised military officials for torturing their captives by having scantily dressed, female soldiers interrogate them, playing rock music and parading them naked wearing hoods over their heads. BEING TORTURED IS HAVING YOUR HEAD CUT FROM YOUR BODY WITH A SHARP MACHETE WHILE YOUR SCREAMING IN AGONY. For those who didn't know. American soldiers aren't taking prisoners out by the sea and mowing them down with machine-gun fire. Hitler's SS troops did that. American soldiers aren't locking prisoners in chambers and poisoning them with mustard gas. Saddam Hussein did that to the Shities and Kurds. American soldiers didn't murder unarmed prisoners with pickaxes and bury them in rice fields. Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge did that.

USA Today, the Washington Post, the LA Times and other media outlets are tarnishing the reputation of our United States military. Yes, a few ugly incidents like Al Gahrib prison, the rape and murder of an Iraqi woman, the alleged massacre of twenty civilians in Hahida and atrocities committed in Fallujah shouldn't soil what supposed to be a "mission for Iraqi freedom". Former View host and celebrity, Rosie O'Donnell called our soldiers "terrorists". What have our soldiers done to the Iraqi people to be branded as terrorists? They haven't blown up mosques, markets, security zones, schools, cafes, government buildings and oil pipelines. They haven't mined roadside highways with explosives and IEDs. They haven't kidnapped and gunned down Iraqi medical personnel, athletes, students, diplomats, police recruits, teachers and members of clergy. American soldiers haven't declared war on their own countrymen. Al Qaida, foreign fighters and the insurgents have. So when critics should bring up Guatamanano Bay and assessing the rights of detainees, think about this quote: You reap what you sow.

Learn more about this author, Marcus Brooks.

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