At 06:20 PM 10/5/2001 -0400, you wrote: >I have been kicking this question around in my head all week, but I didn't >post it as I simply have not been in the mood to be flamed or shredded - as >does tend to happen here. > >Anyway, this spawned a rather heated and surprising debate at work today, >with many opinions exactly opposite of what I predicted they would be. > >This question is aimed mainly at the "Preserve Civil Liberties At Any Cost" >crowd. > >So here goes.... > >Suppose that the terrorist cell that was actually responsible for the WTC >attacks and the hijackings were caught. Also suppose that irrefutable >evidence was found with them to tie them to the attacks. > >Now suppose that it was disclosed that the terrorists were under illegal >surveillance and the evidence collected without a warrant or proper >procedure. > >Based on the US law and precedent, should the evidence be declared >inadmissible and the terrorists released? Should the same civil liberties >and protections cover the people that were responsible for killing 6000+ >people and billions of dollars of property damage? > >I thought that this was a stupid question at first, but it turned out to be >very thought provoking among my coworkers. >____________________________________________ > Gary L. Nunn > Delaware Ohio > >"...speak your mind - even if your voice shakes..." > - Maggie Kuhn
I'm going to assume that you mean that the terrorists have been bought before a US court, and their lawyers have made a successful appeal to a higher court (maybe even the Supreme Court). In which case, my answer is yes. It has been long held that even non US citizens are entitled to Constitutional protections when in a US court. All over this land, there are courthouses which have the inscription "Equal Justice under Law" over the portal. We boast of being a nation of laws. Do we abandon that principle now? There are those who will say that we are in a fight for survival; that democracy is not a suicide pact. To those folks I would ask, Survival as what? For what? We must stand up for our principles, even when it is difficult, even when our country is in mortal peril, for it is then that our principles and ideals are most important and most in need of defending. 25 years ago I stood before a commissioned officer and took the oath of enlistment in the US Navy. I swore not to protect the homeland, but to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. It's the same oath taken today, as it was 100 years ago. Men and women have died for that document, a noble act in my opinion. I think that the following speech, given during our country's most trying time, explains my feelings much better than I can. Some of you may recognize it. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth. God bless you all, and God bless the United States of America. john
