The first coal in my stocking this Yule was the vote on granting the government power to detain anyone anywhere, including the U.S., on mere suspicion of aiding terrorists. The first vote on this provision was overwhelmingly in favor. This bill was the worst threat to the the United States since the British burned Washington in 1814. It’s been watered down, but hasn’t been killed completely or universally denounced.
It is appalling that any Americans would think that our justice system is incapable of dealing with terrorists. In 1862, the Sioux in Minnesota massacred some 800 settlers. 303 Sioux were arrested, tried and sentenced to hang. Abraham Lincoln reviewed the sentences and commuted all but 39, which is still the largest mass execution in American history. Southern sympathizers murdered Lincoln, but the system was trusted to try and condemn 8 conspirators. In 1920 two men were murdered by anarchist bank robbers. Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were tried and executed. When communists stole secrets of the atomic bomb, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested, tried, and executed. I could go on. Some of the cases are still controversial—and the rules of civilian trials were not always followed--but the point is that none of the suspected terrorists walked away free. Our record of catching the bad guys is excellent. We have more people in prison than any other country. (The pros and cons of executions can be saved for another time.) We don’t need to broaden our detention rules.
Besides that, we have a reputation (somewhat tarnished now), of being fair. Our enemies tell their recruits that we are cruel and barbarous. Reinforcing that prejudice is not helpful to our cause. Americans like to think of ourselves as the good guys, and our men and women in uniform have proven that to be true in combat zones all over the planet. The exceptions to that practice have been, in fact, exceptions. We cannot allow a bunch of millionaire dilettantes in Congress to endanger our troops and diplomats by throwing out the Bill of Rights in an effort to appear tougher than the men and women who actually go into harm’s way.
Of course it is really less about terrorism than it is an attempt to shut down debate and the free exchange of ideas. If someone disagrees with a government policy, he is, by definition, an enemy of the state who is giving comfort to the foreign powers who hate us, and should be locked away. That can be any one of us, depending on who is in office at the time. And, detention without trial means that you or I don’t even have to disagree with the government. If I object to the charges on my credit card statement and make a stink about it, the bank manager could make a call, and I disappear. Take away the matter of credit cards, and that is how some detainees wound up in Guantanamo and spent years trying to fight evidence held in secret. We must give our enemies benefit of our Constitution in order to protect ourselves.
Comments