[Winona Online Democracy]
As events unfold . . . as decisions pertaining to civil rights are made . . .as new powers are granted to our government . . . I am reminded of a quote: "Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." [William Pitt] Yes, the devil is in the details . . . I am watchful. I am nervous. All the more so because so many people do not seem to be watchful nor nervous Joanie Heydt-nelson ------------------------ >MIME-Version: 1.0 >X-Priority: 3 >X-MSMail-Priority: Normal >X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >Resent-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Resent-Cc: recipient list not shown: ; > > The problem I have with your definition of war is that I don't know >where you will draw the line. Our concern needs to be how will we handle >similar events in the future. The constitution states that only the >Congress can declare war. There is also the principle that we can defend >ourselves from attack without an official declaration. We have a history >of loosely defining "war" or trying to conduct a war without calling it a >war. We have also conducted wars on drugs, poverty, and many other >things. I think that the temptation to call things a war comes from the >feeling that calling something a war will mobilize public opinion in favor >of the policy that congress and administrations wish to adopt to tackle >the problem. That would be harmless if it did not implicate other >constitutional protections. We have in the past and are now >contemplating the conduct of secret trials using secret evidence. Maybe >it won't actually happen, but the devil is in the details. > > ----- Original Message ----- From: ><mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Rich Pflughoeft (cPMT) To: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 9:42 >PM Subject: RE: [Winona] Military Tribunals > 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] - > > --------------- This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy Please visit http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org to subscribe or unsubscribe All messages sent to the list must be signed with your actual name. Posting of commercial soliticitations is not allowed on this list. Report problems or questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
