Roger: I never meant to imply any racism on your part. The thought never
crossed my mind. Honestly. Nationalism is another thing that never crossed
my mind. I was just saying that international law treats everyone the same
regardless of citizenship. On to the O'Reilly thing..
Roger said
I agree that O'Reilly is hilarious, and that terrorist detainees are
deserving of proper treatment. BUT THAT WASN'T THE POINT. The point was
clearly whether the Constitution protects terrorists at war with the US. And
based upon your comment that "they are entitled to due process and have not
yet
been convicted of any crime. Geography and citizenship in irrelevant to
these
rights," it is obvious that you miss the point yourself. Our courts and
rights are specifically designed to protect us from threats, not to defend
foriegn attackers that are at war with us.
DMB
I don't know if anyone suggested the prisoners ought to be protected under
our Constitution, but if they did they'd be confused about jurisdiction.
Their rights are protected under a larger, global juridiction. Am I missing
the point? No, I'm making a point. Rights are not exclusively found in US
law. They're also protected under the UN and other international bodies and
in this case, the prisoners at camp x-ray are covered under the Geneva
Convention, which protects POWs.
This is the issue that has been in the news, at least the non-corporate news
I consume, everyday for weeks now. POWS are granted a certain legal status
and that's why the administration insists on calling them "detainees", to
avoid granting them that legal status and the rights that go with it. That's
why they call them terrorists instead of soldiers, to avoid having to deal
with messy things like their human rights. Rights are bigger than the U.S.
Constitution. Its a rational, metaphysical thing, by now you know the quote
by heart.
Roger...
But then again, maybe you are onto something -- perhaps we should have just
sued the Nazis? (Just kidding!)
DMB...
You joke about it, but the NAZIs were put on trial. They were afforded some
kind of due process. And most importantly, those trials led to the formation
of the international laws I refer to. Further, neo-NAZIs and Klansmen have
been sued successfully for violating the rights of others. This is just a
political debate. Rights are intellectual values and are pretty hard to
trump. I'm talking about that battle between the third and fourth levels and
it seems to me that O'Rielly is defending the lower values. Maybe that's not
so hilarious after all.
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