I applaud Ashcroft and Bush for taking this tough stand against enemy combatants, whether US citizens or not.
The pissing and moaning of the black and pink helcopter crowds is becoming very old and tired. If we start to see rampant abuse of this policy, give me a call and I'll work with you. Otherwise, give me a huge break.
Sure, but how do we know they really are "enemy combatants" and not just a few troublemakers on an internet web site, for example?
Until they assign you the title. You have no rights under this system. None.
If we start to see rampant abuse of this policy, give me a call and I'll work with you.
Like the internment of American citizens during WWII? That kind of rampant abuse?
Call me from your cell.
It's my understanding that the names of detainees during WWII were not secret. Further, the US had what we would consider "no" gun control at that time. The point is that the US government faced a larger barrier to tyrany than it currently faces, and interning citizens was therefore not ultimately as dangerous to our freedoms. Today, gun control exists, so giving the government the power to detain us ON TOP OF the gun control is more dangerous.
and upheld by the SC.
The supremes specifically wrote that they did not wish to punish those responsible for citizen detention because they did not wish to second-guess the military authority in time of war. We are not at war. Yes, we've been attacked, but our representatives have not decided that the attack was enough to justify war. Maybe they should have, but they didn't. We are legally at peace; allowing detentions during peacetime is a far more dangerous precedent than allowing then during wartime.
I applaud Ashcroft and Bush for taking this tough stand against enemy combatants, whether US citizens or not.
I don't think any of us are on the side of the enemies of the US. The problem is that the potential for abuse is very high.
How do you know they are "enemy combatants," whatever that is? What crime have they been convicted of? What proof is there that they actually tried to harm the US?
Anyone can be called an "enemy combatant," with no proof or evidence shown, just the statement that they are "suspicious." Their rights can be stripped, they can be held in prison for an indefinate time, no trial or lawyer provided. Their name may not be released to the public, so no one knows who is being held, or whether someone missing is in fact jailed.
And you think this is OK? For American citizens?