in the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Hmmm. At best, those are POWs. Maybe. POWs do not receive the civil rights of US citizens.
The Executive branch, by using Executive Orders and emergency interim agency regulations as its tools of choice for combating terrorism, has deliberately chosen methodologies that are largely outside the purview of both the legislature and the judiciary.
How can an executive order that violates the Constitution not be subject to judicial review? Are you telling that if the President issued an executive order that all who criticized him be arrested and held without trial, it could not be challenged and overturned in court?
Sorry. I don't believe that.
it has denied detainees access to legal representatives; and has conducted its hearings in secret, in some cases denying the very existence of such hearings. In a democracy, the actions of the government must be transparent or our ability to vote on policies and the people who create those policies becomes meaningless.
Again, it depends on who those detainees are. If they were taken prisoner fighting American troops in Afghanistan, tough luck. If they were taken on US soil, they've got a point.
From the USA PATRIOT Act's over-broad definition of domestic terrorism, to the FBI's new powers of search and surveillance, to the indefinite detention of both citizens and non-citizens without formal charges, the principles of free speech, due process, and equal protection under the law have been seriously undermined.
Agreed.
Finally, the United States' actions with regard to prisoners held at Camp Delta at the Guantanamo Bay naval station have been in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. These prisoners are being held as "unlawful combatants," a term that has no meaning in international law. The government's disregard for international law can only serve to encourage other nations to act likewise and undermine the very War on Terrorism it seeks to fight.
The second point is valid. At some point, some other nation is likely to declare US soldiers "unlawful combatants" with unpredictable results.
THe status of the Afghani fighters may be vague. There was no state of war declared. However, in the interests of future US soldiers, it would probably be best to treat them as POWs. |
