This Space for Rent

Being a member of the Minnesota Republican Party, this is hard to write, but being a combat veteran requires me to. I would like to thank Sen. Dick Durbin for having the courage to stand up and demand that we close our prison in Guantanamo Bay.

Now that Colin Powell has left, there is no one in a leadership position in the Bush administration who has seen combat. If they had, they would realize the lifetime of psychological trauma that is inflicted on our troops when they are required to chain prisoners to the floor -- leaving them in that position so long that they urinate and defecate on themselves. FBI reports tell how some prisoners left in that way have pulled their own hair out.

Years from now, American Marines, who volunteered to defend our country, will still be going to counseling, trying to get rid of the guilt of knowing that they were forced to engage in torture.

James P. Glaser,
Northome, Minn.;
commander,
American Legion Post 499.