Re: [Winona] Military Tribunals

[Terry Angst]

An interesting article by Neal A. Richardson, a deputy district attorney in Denver and Spencer J. Crona, a lawyer in Denver. The final paragraph and a little bit more from:  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-092301richardson.story                      Tapes of the heart-wrenching cell phone calls of the doomed aboard                    the airliners, for example, would probably be admitted rather than possibly                    excluded as hearsay. The military commission approach would err more on the                    side of protecting national security rather than the side of freeing the guilty to                    achieve absolute fairness in the process. Some will contend that this would                    institutionalize a transgression of civil liberties that, in effect, "lets the terrorist                    win" by depriving people of basic rights.                    Such rhetoric misstates the law. The suspects we are talking about are foreign                    enemy agents, apprehended amid a declared state of war. To afford such                    individuals, at the risk of our citizens' safety, the same due process applied to                    criminal defendants in the civilian justice system, is to extend to them rights that                    they do not have. Terry Angst     "Rich Pflughoeft (cPMT)" wrote: While I appreciate the concern that many have expressed regarding this issue, I'm not convinced that everyone believes it to be ridiculous to consider the acts of terrorism against our country to be an act of war. I realize that there are 'legal definitions' to which I am probably ignorant. What I do know is that our country is faced with coordinated and sophisticated attacks at our citizens. Attacks meant to kill thousands at a time. Perhaps millions. Maybe this doesn't meet everyone's definition of war. It does meet mine.Rich Pflughoeft -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Duane M. Peterson Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 3:36 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Winona] Military Tribunals   -Snip-It is a stretch of logic to declare that the United States is in a state of Armed Conflict.  It is ridiculous to declare that an act of terrorism is an act of war. [Rich Pflughoeft] -