--- In [email protected], new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > The ACLU's critics point out that habeas corpus protections > were never intended to apply to terrorists and other sworn > enemies of the USA. > > The last paragraph is such a horror of double talk. Habeas corpus > protections were CERTAINLY intended to apply to all US Citizens.
It's not just doubletalk, it's flat-out wrong, a complete misinterpretation of the purpose of the Constitution. The Constitution does not guarantee rights to U.S. citizens because we somehow deserve them whereas others do not; it guarantees them to us because this country was founded on the principle that human rights should be guaranteed to all human beings. Obviously we can't guarantee that citizens of other countries will be guaranteed human rights by their governments; but we can and do guarantee rights to citizens of this country and citizens of other countries who come under our jurisdiction, *including* to our sworn enemies. As the NY Times pointed out in an editorial yesterday, "Americans have never believed that human rights are just for Americans. Our nation is outraged when an authoritarian government jails an American, or one of its own citizens, on trumped-up charges and brings him or her before a phony court." On MSNBC's "Countdown" tonight, constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley told Keith Olbermann: "The framers created a system where we did not have to rely on the good graces or good mood of the president. In fact, Madison said that he created a system essentially to be run by devils, where they could not do harm, because we didn't rely on their good motivations. "Now we must. And people have no idea how significant this is, what, really, a time of shame this is for the American system. What the Congress did and what the president signed today essentially revokes over 200 years of American principles and values." To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
