Hullabaloo

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

 
Undeserving Humans

by digby

Thank goodness the President has finally stepped in to put all these arguments about what to do with terrorist suspects to rest. President Huckleberry, that is.

Spencer Ackerman:

Two weeks ago, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), in the midst of negotiations with the White House over trading a military tribunal for 9/11 conspirator Khalid Shaikh Mohammed for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, floated a new proposal: “a new national security court” for terrorism detainees. Graham didn’t appear to press the point in interviews since. But his spokesman, Kevin Bishop, said Graham is busy drawing up a proposal for how such a system would work, and gave some detail about its scope. As it happens, this is less a national-security court than it is an indefinite detention system. “There has to be some type of statute– and he’s been clear on that — for indefinite detention,” Bishop said.

Primarily, the system Graham is designing is set up for handling the Obama administration’s so-called “Fifth Category” of detainees that a Justice Department task force recommended against charging and releasing. “What do you do with them? What type of system do you have to hold them indefinitely?” Bishop said. “What type of system do you establish where we can ensure that we’re looking back at their cases; that we are holding them; we still determine that they are enemy combatants; they’re too dangerous to release; but we also aren’t going to try them in either a military or a civilian court. So there has to be a system for that, and that’s why Senator Graham is looking for a legal framework.”

I think this is a terrific idea. In fact, I don't see why we shouldn't apply this new category to other people we just "know" have committed crimes but for a variety of reasons we don't think we can convict in a court of law. Surely you cannot tell me that people suspected of serial murder or child molestation are less dangerous and more deserving of human rights.

I think it's only a matter of time before this becomes obvious to lots of people. Once you give up the principle of due process and the rule of law it only goes one way.


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digby 3/09/2010 08:00:00 PM |