The Gitmo Dilemma
There’s an old saw in the intel game, “Tell me what you know, tell me what you know, and make damn clear which is which.“
Intelligence gathering and analysis is by nature an imperfect process. It’s weighted toward believing the worst’s about everyone, on the theory no on wants to be the one who missed the clues that might have averted disaster. It’s often based on information from dubious informants, who have myriad motives that could shade the truth.
Which brings us to the problematic, but vitally necessary process, of figuring out which terror suspects in Guantanamo have been properly designated “unlawful enemy combatants” and therefore not entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions, and subject to indefinite incarceration at the U.S. run prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The dilemma of holding suspects based on unconfirmed, and perhaps unconfirmable intelligence, which cannot be disclosed for fear of burning sources and methods, while at the holding ourselves as a nation to the highest standards of human rights and due process under law, is a contradiction portrayed brilliantly in a new short film, “The Response.“
Starring Peter Riegert as a conflicted military judge, and produced based on actual declassified transcripts, it’s a great, nonpartisan jumping off point for a real debate about a live and death issue.
The evidence against many of those held was summed up at recent screening I attended by Rear. Adm. John Hutson, a former Navy JAG as, “A guy, we can’t tell you who, told us something, we can’t tell you what, that makes us think you’re a terrorist, but we can’t tell you why.“
The film’s brilliance is in the use of real dialog culled from thousands of pages of transcripts released by the Obama administration under the FOIA of hearings that were conducted in the first few ears of Guantanamo’s operation. As well as a fictional debate between the military judges that captures both sides of the issues.
Peter Riegert (Local Hero, Animal House, The Good Wife ) said the first thing he wanted to know from writer/producer Sig Libowitz before he agreed to appear in the dramatization was whether he had an agenda, if the film would be an agitprop.
After reading the script Riegert agreed to take part in the project (which also stars Aasif Mandvi from The Daily Show) and the result is a short pithy film that frames the debate perfectly, and leaves the tough question for you to decide.
Tags: Gitmo, Guantanamo, The Reponse, Unlawful Combatant
