Quote:
Originally Posted by tony404
You forget a very large chunk of them did nothing.They were picked up on bad intel or because the US was offering bounties people were given up for money even though they weren't terrorists. A cameraman was held for a couple of years and they finally let him go.
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ok.. lets say i agree with you. the problem with terrorism is that it was treated as a criminal matter in the US. that did not work. you can't give someone who considers it their life's duty to murder you all the rights and protections of a legal system and constitution (that doesn't apply to them anyway) as if somehow "justice" is going to be done.
i understand all the issues. i understand and believe that its very complex and the issues are very complex. they are unique to our time. I think its a huge mistake to treat this category of people as if the criminal justice system can provide a solution to the terrorist threat.
You can say people were held on faulty intel etc.. that also goes the other way. Many ended up on the battlefield killing people and even carrying out suicide attacks and many are so violent and dangerous that their own countries refuse to take them back... you are pointing to the exception... i am pointing to the general rule.
whats the answer? dunno. it has to be something in between military justice and kidnapping and killing them.
if i am a guy catching people on the battlefield after a major firefight ... why wouldn't i just put a bullet in his head? why would i want to see that guy put on a plane and treated like gold while some attorney allows him to walk on a technicality so he can go back to trying to kill people?
this issue is not so simple as everyone wants to make it out to be.
and lets be very clear here... i just had the federal government tell me to stop a hoax site. when asked about "the first amendment", i was told "i don't care, we're going to shut it down no matter what". when it was said "its clearly satire" the response was "then it serves no purpose and has no reason to exist".
i don't have any love for bush, republicans, killing brown people or anything else people want to redirect the argument to.
for me its about a simple question of how do you adequately deal with people who want to die trying to kill you and will keep trying every chance you give them? "The Constitution" doesn't provide a great answer to that question. If anything, it weights the odds in their favor of ultimately succeeding. you don't have to hate freedom, the constitution or support fascism to understand that simple issue.