I knew many prison officers who were good guys, worked in a hospital next door to a prison not as a customer!
However there are so many people waiting for the dark side to be legitimised that we should revert to the ancient Athenian system of appointing people by lot (lottery) to such positions, so many people are attracted to such jobs by their own peculiar messed up life that we should view people who choose such jobs with power over others with great suspicion as is happening in the UK now. Every war unleashes these people with a legitimate case to prove that their side is right and that they can do anything they feel is necessary to the obviously barbarian people on the other side. Mahathma Ghandhi had it right, violence begets ther violence and the winner may appear usually to be the one with the biggest stick. Not in the long term however, history judges more impartially than that. Guantanamo was bad, you may get upset about reports of cruelty, but remember tht this is being judged by a yardstick developed over centuries in Europe and America of the rights of prisoners. These standards have not reached other parts of the world yet. When I saw Rumsfeld questioned by a BBC reporter after his triumphal arrival in Iraq after the Invasion I remember his comment that he was more concerned with US soldiers lives than Iraqis. This will come back to haunt him eventually, The wheel turns and everyone gets their turn on top. He has gone down very fast, as well as Bush and Cheney, War Crimes trials anyone?
I knew many prison officers who were good guys, worked in a hospital next door to a prison not as a customer!
However there are so many people waiting for the dark side to be legitimised that we should revert to the ancient Athenian system of appointing people by lot (lottery) to such positions, so many people are attracted to such jobs by their own peculiar messed up life that we should view people who choose such jobs with power over others with great suspicion as is happening in the UK now. Every war unleashes these people with a legitimate case to prove that their side is right and that they can do anything they feel is necessary to the obviously barbarian people on the other side. Mahathma Ghandhi had it right, violence begets ther violence and the winner may appear usually to be the one with the biggest stick. Not in the long term however, history judges more impartially than that. Guantanamo was bad, you may get upset about reports of cruelty, but remember tht this is being judged by a yardstick developed over centuries in Europe and America of the rights of prisoners. These standards have not reached other parts of the world yet. When I saw Rumsfeld questioned by a BBC reporter after his triumphal arrival in Iraq after the Invasion I remember his comment that he was more concerned with US soldiers lives than Iraqis. This will come back to haunt him eventually, The wheel turns and everyone gets their turn on top. He has gone down very fast, as well as Bush and Cheney, War Crimes trials anyone?