Stardate 20020127.1325

(On Screen): Various news reports indicate that the prisoners being held at Guantanamo are generally not in good spirits. They worry about their fates, which is natural. They're worried about their families.

But let's not go feeling too sorry for these guys. These are the baddest of the bad, the most dangerous and vicious enemies we captured in Afghanistan. Some of them have threatened to kill their guards. It's an empty threat; they're not going to be given the chance. But if they had the chance, they would unquestionably take it.

There's a natural tendency to sympathize with underdogs. These guys are helpless and confined, and it's easy to empathize with how they feel, imprisoned. But you have to realize that if they were on top and had captive Americans, they would be nothing like as merciful. These are evil men. That doesn't mean we should be evil or cruel to them, but it does mean that we have to be careful not to let our sentiment betray us into making stupid mistakes. If these men are released, they will try to kill us. If we grant them too much liberty in the prison, if we are careless, they will revolt as their fellows did in Mazar-e Sharif, and it might cost some of our people their lives (and most of them theirs).

Yes, they have families. Yes, their families worry about them. But everyone has a mother and a father. Tim McVeigh had a mother and a father, too.