Letter to the editor: Values, not fear

I have often seen claims that conservatives are more about principles and liberals are more about policy. The opposite was on view in your recent Crosstalk about Guantanamo.

Mark Gibson spoke about our values and upholding them, while RaeLynn Ricarte mostly talked about fear.

While some of the inmates at Guantanamo are definitely dangerous, some have been cleared of wrongdoing but are still being held.

But even if they are dangerous, the point is the principled position is to uphold our commitments (Geneva Accords) and our Constitution.

What would the founders think of holding people for life without charges no matter how dangerous they are? Or having a prison outside our borders in the hope that the Geneva Accords or the Constitution would not apply?

Ricarte closed by mentioning that critics of Guantanamo don‘t mention ISIS doesn’t uphold the Geneva Accords. Well, they don’t uphold the Constitution either, so should we throw that in the trash too?

Because that is what some conservatives want to do when they get scared of foreigners.

Dean Myerson

The Dalles