Ill-informed and opinionated

For most major newspapers, running a letter like Susan Dixon's of Oklahoma City would be a curious thing. After all, she is clearly ill-informed and yet she is basing her entire opinion on this lack of information. Then again, the Oklahoman is hardly a real newspaper. Instead, it's a right-wing propaganda machine and its letters section is just one cog in that wheel. Thus, we get this drivel:

Even if the five uber terrorists released from Gitmo are actually held in Qatar for a year, as agreed (which is doubtful in a Muslim country), they can still engage in jihad against the United States and its allies through planning and ordering terrorist activities via computers. What a sad state of affairs that the U.S. government let five of the worst terrorists being held at Gitmo go in exchange for a Taliban prisoner of questionable character and motives, who walked away from his post in Afghanistan.

Wait, wait. So now these guys are "uber terrorists"? How does she know this? Has she read their bios? Does she know why they were captured? Or how long they have been there? Because smarter people than Ms Dixon have actually spoken on this:

A closer look at the former prisoners, however, indicates that not all were hard-core militants. Three held political positions in the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and were considered relative moderates. A fourth was a mid-level police official, experts say.

Admittedly, not all were so harmless:

The fifth, however, has a darker past. Mohammed Fazl was chief of staff of the Taliban army and is accused of commanding forces that massacred hundreds of civilians in the final years of Taliban rule before the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. He was arrested in November 2001 after surrendering to U.S.-allied warlords in northern Afghanistan.

So that's sort of bad. But it's hardly like we are dealing with five Pakistani Jack Bauers!! Indeed, as the LA Times notes:

The backgrounds of the prisoners, who are confined to the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar for one year under the terms of the exchange, indicate that they would have little utility on the battlefield after more than a decade in prison. They range in age from 43 to 47. In their absences, the Taliban movement they served has evolved into a complex and extremely violent insurgency that routinely kills civilians and has been decimated — although far from defeated — by years of U.S. counter-terrorism operations.

Got that? Words like "little utility" and "more than a decade in prison" are indicators that these guys are hardly going to turn into umber terrorists (and it's clear that they weren't before they were ever arrested!).

Also: what's this "which is doubtful in a Muslim country" bit? Like, what, Muslim countries don't do things to other Muslims? Is she fucking kidding? Does she know anything about Qatar?!?! Because it doesn't have the best record when it comes to human rights-- against non-Muslims OR Muslims!

Clearly, Ms Dixon has no idea what she's talking about. But that doesn't matter: running her worthless letter gives the Oklahoman a chance-- yet again-- to attack something the President does. Wouldn't this space be better served by people commenting on more relevant Oklahoma issues (like the state's "food desert" problem, or issues with crime or transportation) with informed perspectives? For a real newspaper, perhaps. But not for the Oklahoman.