American Dinosaur

Well, I'm sure to get some flack for saying this, but I have enormous respect John McCain. There is no other politician I would vote for on either side were he to run for president. (And I say that as a registered Democrat who has never voted Republican, other than on a local level.)

I don't say this because I like his stances on many on the issues, because I don't. I say this because what this country needs now more than ever is unity. And we need a leader who can unite both sides of the isle, the way Ronald Reagan did. I see McCain as the only one not only able, but willing to do this.

As for treatment of detainees, etc... I don't know what it's like on a battlefield, or what it's like to try to save lives by attempting to extract information from enemy individuals who want nothing more than to kill us, but I can't imagine it's an easy job and that severe "persuading" is essential.

But it does seem to me that having multiple definitions for different kinds of enemy can lead to confusion. Forget Geneva Conventions, what is American policy? It seems that it was just this sort of confusion that lead to abuses at Abu Ghraib, where many or most of those prisoners were not terrorists or enemy combantants, but civilians taken in under a general sweep. And although she's been sentenced to three years, I simply don't believe England acted on her own. It's this sort of confusion on policy which leads to these kinds of abuses, which leads to insensing the acutal enemy, as well as altered perception of allies, and thus compromising the mission of our troops, and jeopardizing their safety.

This is why I think McCain is doing the right thing, and why I support him.