Former President Jimmy Carter -- who should stick to building houses with Habitat for Humanity -- has joined the chorus of the shallow and ignorant by calling for the closure of the terrorist holding facility at Guantanamo Bay.

In comments broadcast on Fox News, Carter had a list of things that could be done with the terrorists being held there:

They could be sent back home, they could be put on trial, they could be given -- all of them -- a guaranteed right, first of all, that they will not be held incommunicado... that they have a right to counsel...

I've got a better one -- we could just shoot them.

This is a foolish return to a pre-9/11 mentality where preventing terrorism is a police function. We don't have to provide these terrorists with counsel -- they're not covered by the Geneva Conventions.

But let's set that insanity aside for a moment. Let's say we had trials -- not show trials, but military tribunals -- and the verdict came back: Death. Does anyone really believe that Carter, the International Red Cross and Amnesty International would be OK with that?

What do they want? I really hate to think of what kind of parents you'd be if you raised your children the way they propose running international diplomacy. You'd let your kids get away with murder (literally in this case) just to avoid an unpleasant confrontation.

If we free some of these terrorists, and they turn around and start killing Americans again, what does Carter care? He's not president, so I guess he thinks that blood won't be on his hands.

I do hope that one day we will be able to close down the detention facility on Gitmo. That day will come when every terrorist bent on wreaking destruction on America and killing American citizens is dead. Until then, we need Gitmo.

On a related note: What he said.