Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
- Abraham Lincoln

Several nights ago I heard a report on the BBC world service about the plight of Yemenis imprisoned in Guantanemo. Yemen has apparently been pushing for the release of its citizens for several years now. The BBC was reporting that there were concerns (don’t remember who they were attributed to) that many of the prisoners would go directly into the ranks of Al Queda. Further, the concern was that even though many of the prisoners had done nothing wrong, they had been radicalized by their years in military prison and would now be willing to fight against the United States. Was it a good idea, the report wondered, for the US to release these prisoners, knowing that there was a good chance they’ll end up taking up arms against us?

Well? So what? Can these men be charged with a crime? Have they been given a fair trial and sentenced to be held? No? Well, are they prisoners of war per the Geneva Conventions? No? Then how are we legally or morally justified in keeping these men imprisoned? The only morally defensible position is that these men must be released.

Say these were American citizens, not caught up in the Global War on Terror, being held in a cell somewhere in the states, without trial, for nearly a decade. Is that justifiable? What if you kept them there so long that they grew to resent the police officers that had locked them up, so much so that they seemed to be a threat to those officers. Could you keep them locked up then? The answer is no, you couldn’t. No matter what kind of threat you consider them they can’t be held without trial. Those are the standards of justice that have been passed down to us by our forefathers. These rules are an essential part of our freedom, no one can be denied their freedoms without the fair application of rules that are designed to ensure, as best as we can humanly ensure, that we´re not locking up an innocent.

Like Abe said, we are dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Endowed by their creator and not the American government, with inalienable rights. Not all Americans, all men. To apply different standards of justice to non-American citizens is to trade short lasting security for our essential freedoms, our essential character. Applying different justice to non-Americans is the same as applying different standards of justice to blacks and whites, or rich and poor.

Why are we dedicated to this proposition? Because we were conceived in liberty. Among our founding fathers were men whose thinking was steeped in the best of enlightenment political thought, men who gave serious rational thought to what it meant to be free and how to structure society so that all men, regardless of who they were or where they came from could be free. Yes, that´s very romanticized but that idea is what, in my opinion, makes America exceptional. Not a kickass military and not our gold, all of which can and will pass. What makes us special is that we´re the great social experiment, the child of the height of western culture.

I’m encouraged that Obama appears to want to set these prisoners free but I really want him to articulate to us and to the world why we have to do it. I want him to make a clear break from our behavior of the past. The country needs a history lesson and a reality check. It’s not enough to tell the world that we value freedom, peace and justice. We have to show them.