Don't Fuck With His Rep

The Fixer at Alternate Brain responding to Amnesty International’s charges that the prison at Gitmo is the "gulag of our times" and that American leaders may face international prosecution for mistreating prisoners:

I don't know about anybody else, but my reputation means everything to me. As most of you know, besides being a writer, I'm a semi-retired mechanic. Keeping a reputation for ethics and integrity when swimming in a sea of sharks ain't easy, but I (my boss and the guys I work with too) have managed to do it for over 30 years.

The reputation of my country means a lot to me too, and this just pisses me off…

25 years ago, I joined the military to protect this nation from the USSR, the people who invented the word 'gulag'. We have become what despise the most.

In the comments thread, his co-blogger Gordon agrees:

It damn sure is turning into something I didn't sign up to defend, either.

We talk a lot about what supporting the troops really means, and the Left and the Right seem to have very different ideas about that. One of the things that I believe we owe to our troops who have already served is retaining the principles for which they were fighting. Asking them to have risked their lives to defend democracy only to destroy it at home and abroad is the worst kind of betrayal. I can’t begin to imagine how it feels to be someone like Fix or Gordon, whose service is mocked by a half-assed Texas guardsman that speaks of ideas like liberty and freedom while he crushes dissent and undermines the democracy he’s sworn to uphold.

Well, mock it all you like, flyboy. It’s people like the men of Alternate Brain who are the real guardians of America, not sniveling bullies who wield its power while destroying its greatness in equal measure, and it’s they who are our heroes.