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Comment by thornjm | Hacker News Reader

Reading things like I can't help but understand why some groups of people can hate America. (I am Australian)

It's the entire Western sense of superiority (I'm American). Gitmo is America saying that the rules we hold ourselves to don't apply to "others." It's hypocritical bullshit, and we deserve what we get because of it.

But it's not just the US (or just Gitmo) -- read about the treatment of refugees in Australia (tl;dr: it's better than Gitmo, but not good by a long shot -- http://mitahungerstrike.wordpress.com). And I don't mean to pick on Australia, because the Australian government is no more (or less) guilty than the governments of much of the developed world, I just want to make a point that we all are having terrible things done to other human beings in our names.

It's a damn sad state of affairs.

On the subject of Australia and Refugees, a relatively recent book called "The People Smuggler"[1] is a fascinating read. It's the story of an Iraqi man, called Ali Al Jenabi, and how he ended up ferrying people from Indonesia to Australia.

[1] http://www.thepeoplesmuggler.com/

I don't think it's better than Gitmo at all.

Refugees, including children, are held in prisons. Sometimes for many years. All without trial. Why no trial? Largely because they have not committed any crime -- it is quite legal to seek asylum.

This is wedge politics, pure and simple.

It doesn't take a propagandised population to hate Western people, it takes a propagandised population to be surprised at that hatred.

Good, we could use more enemies. Gitmo is a very expensive way to manufacture them. It's only effective if it pisses off a lot of people.

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