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When the communists in Vietnam took over, there was widespread opposition and a pro-democracy movement. In defense of their own government, the government of Vietnam resorted to “reeducation” camps and arrests on a huge magnitude. The same thing happened in North Korea, and Iran, among many other countries.

That itself is terrible. No one should be tortured, murdered, or even arrested for their belief system. This was the backbone of the American constitution and has secured our rights here for many years.

Sadly, this is not the case for the four students who were killed on May 4th, 1970 in Kent State University. Along with thousands of others, a semi-violent protest against the Vietnam War took place on that date, with angry students throwing rocks and other projectiles at national guardsmen. Consequently, in massive retaliatory disparity, the guards fired upon them, killing four.

Even today, in Guantanamo Bay, alleged “terrorists” are being held without habeas corpus or many rights that we Americans enjoy today. Many of the prisoners face forced sleep deprivation and cold cells, among others. These “terrorists” too have lost a conflict. Perhaps they fought for ending the occupation of Iraq. Perhaps they are completely innocent. If this continues, we shall never know.

More candidly, let’s look at the case of Mordechai Vanunu. He was a nuclear technician working for the Israeli government during the 70s and 80s. In a moral dilemma over the Osiraq incident and Israel’s own budding nuclear program, he alerted the British press with information about Israel’s program. Catching wind of this, the Mossad (Israel’s intelligence agency) convinced Vanunu to go to Italy for a vacation (with an attractive Mossad agent), where he was kidnapped, smuggled aboard a freighter, and taken back to Israel. The Mossad did this in Italy to avoid the diplomatic fallout that would harm ties between the UK and Israel if the kidnapping had taken place in the UK. In Israel, he was placed under eleven years of solitary confinement and a decade more of imprisonment.

The United States never protested this, because it was a winning situation for the nation. If Vanunu had truly been successful, Israel would be forced to formally admit that it had unauthorized WMDs, thus making it impossible for the US to send aid there. Given that the US is sending 30 billion dollars in military aid to Israel over the next decade, it would be a big blow for Israel and the US if Vanunu had “won” the conflict. The US would no longer have a powerful ally in the middle east, and Israel would no longer have the aid so essential to its survival.

Once again, I’m not lambasting the people of Israel, or any other country for that matter. I’m criticizing bad government decisions made, and how it rather starkly contrasts with the reality of the situation.

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