The Moral High Ground

So we have just accepted back our last Guantanamo inmate. No doubt the Daily Hate will opine.

But here's the thing: nations and governments re-learn over and over again that if you move off the moral high ground, in many people's eyes you lose your right to criticize and thereby much of your support.

Israel regularly makes that mistake with overly aggressive military campaigns. We made that mistake in the 1970s in Northern Ireland with internment. And Guantanamo (aka imprisonment without trial) is the same.

You have to accept that you cannot bring all the baddies to justice all the time. Democracy and the right of law can be annoying but the alternative is always worse.