Detained by fear at Gitmo

For 10 years, American principles have been held hostage at Guantanamo.

"I have here in my hand a list of ... names."

When Sen. Joseph McCarthy told the Ohio County Women's Republican Club of Wheeling, W.Va., on Feb. 9, 1950, that he held a list of 205 communists employed by the State Department, he ignited a firestorm and launched a career.

We now know there was no list. Even then, it was obvious McCarthy was not particularly punctilious about the numbers. In Wheeling it was 205; in Salt Lake City it was 57; on the Senate floor it was 81. Nor was he especially careful about the allegation. Maybe they weren't all "card-carrying" communists. Maybe some were just "loyalty risks" or "people with communist connections."

None of that mattered. The number, so peculiar and precise, seemed like the product of careful calculation by government insiders. And it fit with what many people wanted to believe, which also encouraged a suspension of disbelief.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-margulies-gitmo-20120111,0,1736276.story