Very scary court ruling

[Undeadlord]

Anyone scared by this appeals court ruling? Basically it says that if the government decides you are threat to "National Security" You can be thrown in a military prison and never heard from again. No Lawyer, no rights, nothing. Now I can almost understand this treatment for people captured in battle, although my logic tells me all people deserve to goto court and have their day there. However this new ruling, is for US CITIZENS!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/08/enemy.combatants/


Undeadlord

[daveleau]

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

This is Article 1, Section 9 of the US Constitution. If the US is under rule by an unscrupulous group of people, then this should be feared because it leaves a lot of leeway as to who is a threat and who is an invader. I have faith that the American system has enough checks and balances within the government and within society to keep the unscrupulous from abusing this power. As long as these checks are in place, there is nothing to fear. The court merely upheld the Constitution, which I applaud them for because judges are now often not doing so.

Notice the wording. It says privelege, not right. This is tantamount to the interpretation. Again, this is something you should not fear as long as the government is ruled by good men and women. This is more reason to be involved in politics and preservation of our rights. It is our job to keep the bad people out.

[ClubMed]

It would be interesting to find out what criteria is used to turn a civilian in to a so called 'enemy combatant', whatever that may be.

What rights do these so called 'enemy combatants' have? (To try and justify that they have no rights is pathetic because even the Nazi war criminals who were prosecuted at the Nuremberg Trials and elsewhere had rights, and they had quite a few tons of blood on their hands (according to the latest research +/- 4-6 million people)

It would also be interesting to find out why the government has decided that civilian courts cannot deal with such cases?

[MrMikeL]

ClubMed, Nazis killed close to 10 million people.

[Mike]

If the Governments wants to make you dissappear, then you WILL dissappear. No questions asked..
I don't think the number was quite that high..

[ClubMed]

Mike, sounds like you're describing Iraq or any such regime. That is scary indeed.

[daveleau]

ClubMed, what? I don't think there is anything remotely similar between a torturing murdering madman hell-bent on world destruction and anyone in the US, except for maybe the terrorist cells we have here of whose defining characteristics I will leave out.
Only a person who has very little trust for their leaders and no freedom would say such a thing as is said int he above post. I say no freedom, because it is the will of the people that puts people into power here in the US. Someone without that freedom SHOULD fear their government.

If the US is under rule by an unscrupulous group of people, then this should be feared because it leaves a lot of leeway as to who is a threat and who is an invader. I have faith that the American system has enough checks and balances within the government and within society to keep the unscrupulous from abusing this power. As long as these checks are in place, there is nothing to fear. The court merely upheld the Constitution, which I applaud them for because judges are now often not doing so.

[ClubMed]

Not sure what you are talking about daveleau, or why you are quoting something else. I was referring to Mikes post.

[Mike]

No..I am sure I was talking about the U.S. government.

[willy_ph]

But does the U.S. constitution also state that an individual should be entitled to a fair and speedy process and at the time of the arrest, or shortly thereafter, the charges against the individual should be made known?