Is the Republican Party holding some kind of contest to see who can make the biggest public display of asshattery? If it is it seems like Tom Cotton isn’t holding back. While his supporters have been busy touting him as a hero and fighter for liberty due to his military service as it turns out he isn’t a fan of liberty. In fact Cotton appears to be a rather big fan of torture without so much as a trail:
WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Monday said the U.S. should be “proud” of how it treats the “savages” it detains at the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
“Terrorists need no excuse to attack us here. They’ve shown that for decades and decades,” Cotton said on Fox News’ “The Kelly File.” “We should be proud for the way we treated these savages at Guantanamo Bay and the way our soldiers conduct themselves all around the world to include the people doing the very hard work at Guantanamo Bay.”
Let me translate what he said into layman’s terms:
Individuals who have been suspected of terrorism, sometimes on as little evidence as owning a specific wristwatch, need no due process. We should be proud of the way we’ve tortured these human beings at Guantanamo Bay without so much as a trail to establish their guilt. Our pride for our soldiers’ conduct around the world should be unconditional. Just because a soldier has been complicit in war crimes doesn’t mean we can’t take pride in their actions!
That’s what Cotton said and it’s a terrible statement that could make him a shoo-in for any contest of asshattery. Needless to say anybody who supports this fuckwit from here on out cannot be taken seriously if they claim to be a supporter of liberty. Due process is necessary for liberty to exist. Without establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt there is no way to justify, at least in a free society, the imposition of punishment.