Flutterby™! : US citizens as enemy combatants

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US citizens as enemy combatants

2003-01-09 19:41:02+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

Be afraid: Federal appeals court rules U.S. citizens can be designated "enemy combatants" and held without having charges filed or even being allowed to talk to a lawyer. It's tempered a little with the statement:

"We shall, in fact, go no further in this case than the specific context before us -- that of the undisputed detention of a citizen during a combat operation undertaken in a foreign country and a determination by the executive that the citizen was allied with enemy forces."

So if you find yourself in a foreign combat zone and aren't a GOP contributor, get out.

[ related topics: Law Current Events Civil Liberties ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment made: 2003-01-10 16:40:02+00 by: baylink

I personally find that to be a *lot* of tempering, but maybe it's just me.

#Comment made: 2003-01-10 18:35:00+00 by: TheSHAD0W

Personally, I think if an American citizen were captured while he was fighting with the enemy, then he should be treated like an enemy combatant, period. I have no problem with that ruling.

What does concern me is other aspects of the "enemy combatant" label. Look at Jesus Padilla, AKA "Osama bin Lopez". He's been held without charges for well over a year, not allowed to see a lawyer... Supposedly he conspired to commit terrorist acts, but there's been no trial. Why not?

Here's another question for you. We've taken a number of enemy combatants in Afghanistan, who are now being held in Guantanamo Bay, in what is essentially solitary confinement. Fine. So... When do we let them out? Typically, they'd be released when the war was over, and perhaps tried for war crimes... Well, the US is no longer heavily involved in Afghanistan, but the last of the troops won't be pulling out any time soon. So... When do these guys go free? If ever?

#Comment made: 2003-01-11 03:47:23+00 by: TheSHAD0W

And speaking of Padilla...

From DrudgeReport.com: Justice Department discloses: military teams have been interrogating detained US citizen Jose Padilla for several months in hopes of winning trust as a source of intelligence about Al Qaeda terror network... Developing...

#Comment made: 2003-01-11 21:10:58+00 by: TheSHAD0W

http://www.boston.com/dailyglo...unsel_for_terror_suspects+.shtml

Without reporting the details of the questioning, and without discussing anything that Padilla may have said in those sessions, the department said that ''granting him direct access to counsel can be expected to set back his interrogations by months, if not derail the process permanently.''

I'm sorry, but if the Justice Department suspects someone of a crime, no matter how terrible, months of continuous interrogation is way out of line. That sounds more like a technique they would've used in Soviet Russia, not here in the US.