Habeas Corpus... not so much.

[ImFeklhr]

I guess they can take habeas corpus out of civics textbooks, we won't "need" it much longer. :shrug: :shrug:


From the Washington Post

The Bill of Rights, and Sometimes Wrongs

Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A15

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has raised some eyebrows in legal circles because of the following exchange last Thursday with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) at a meeting of the Judiciary Committee over the writ of habeas corpus. The Latin term, roughly interpreted as "you have the body," refers to the centuries-old right of prisoners to challenge their confinement.

Gonzales : The fact that the Constitution -- again, there is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution. There's a prohibition against taking it away.

But it's never been the case. I'm not aware of a Supreme . . .

Specter : Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The Constitution says you can't take it away except in case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn't that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless there's an invasion or rebellion?

Gonzales : I meant by that comment, the Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas. Doesn't say that. It simply says the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except . . .

Specter : You may be treading on your interdiction and violating common sense, Mr. Attorney General

 

[StevieD]

I remember when the AG worked for the people. Under what rock did Bush find this one.:scared

 

[gardenweasel]

you`re worried about THEIR rights?...well,this is their response to habeas corpus/

""Four of the five Americans killed when a U.S. security company's helicopter crashed in a dangerous Sunni neighborhood in central Baghdad were shot execution style in the back of the head, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Wednesday.""

i guess that`s better than having your head "sawed' off ala nick berg...

i wonder if those contractors discussed their right to "challenge" their "confinement"?.....

lol

and the continued hand wringing and ham stringing of our military by libs and assorted bureaucratic quislings is unending......we NEVER learn.....

"U.S. Deadlocked on Whether To Free Iranian Terror Suspects":

""The American government is deadlocked on the issue of whether to allow five Iranians captured last Wednesday in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil to return home, according to three administration officials.

While the five individuals picked up in last week's raid have been determined not to have diplomatic immunity, as Iran's Foreign Ministry has insisted, it is still unclear whether Tehran might prevail in the standoff. The military has said those detained were members of Iran's elite al-Quds force, a unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that is in charge of anti-American and anti-Israeli terrorism.

On one side of the bureaucratic debate are the CIA and the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs Bureau. According to one administration official familiar with the debate, they argue that the prolonged detention of the suspected Quds force operatives will provoke a further escalation with Iran and scuttle the Iraqi government's plan to help secure Baghdad with American soldiers. On the other side of the debate are the Pentagon's special operations office, the Marines, and the Army — which have pleaded that the captured Iranians are too great a danger to American forces to return to Iran.""

is that amazing,or what?..now you see why we`re struggling to win any coflict over the last 50 years...



.....they`re sending iranian revolutionary guardsmen into iraq to assist in killing our soldiers...if not kill them directly...and what does the politically correct state dept do?....

somebody explain this....how the f-ck are you supposed to win a war with this kind of crap...

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!???

are they saying that if the u.s. fights against the iranian meddling in iraq, the iranians will fight back, so it's better to just leave them alone...?

habeas corpus?.....civilian trials for terrorists?....what planet are YOU from?....

the endemic moral and intellectual rot of this country is what will destroy us....and all this politically correct garbage...

the perpetrators of evil number in the millions.... and the scope and scale of our stupidity is so all-encompassing that it cannot be measured or stopped....

the scenario in "24" is our future.....

anybody here not believe that?..

 

[ImFeklhr]

habeas corpus?.....civilian trials for terrorists?....what planet are YOU from?....

Gonzales : I meant by that comment, the Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas. Doesn't say that. It simply says the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except.


THAT is what alarms me the most. To even have that mindset, you have to wonder if some people in our government wish we simply didn't have these rights. It inconveniences them.

 

[gardenweasel]

well,as i stated,don`t expect our soldiers to get anything more than a bullet in the head...or the less dull side of a large blade.....in consideration of their rights during wartime.....

"why is there any reason to think that future wartime presidents will act differently from lincoln, wilson or roosevelt?"...../william rehnquist..

a diffferent standard for bush?.....just because his name is bush and you hate him?...

theres precedent here...this isn`t new....

and btw,those presidents actually won their wars...

 

[ImFeklhr]

well,as i stated,don`t expect our soldiers to get anything more than a bullet in the head...or the less dull side of a large blade.....in consideration of their rights during wartime.....

"why is there any reason to think that future wartime presidents will act differently from lincoln, wilson or roosevelt?"...../william rehnquist..

a diffferent standard for bush?.....just because his name is bush and you hate him?...

theres precedent here...this isn`t new....

and btw,those presidents actually won their wars...

Woah, I think we have a misunderstanding. I don't doubt our soldiers/journalists/workers in the MidEast are treated with no justice.

I think we are light years ahead of the Arab world in all forms of justice. No argument there.

I also don't deny that during wartime there is need for its (habeus corpus) suspension (only when actually necessary, not just willy nilly). As has been the case in the past. After all the specific wording of the article in the Constitution is:

"""""The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."""""


BUT, what our Attorney General is saying is that he thinks there is no granting of habeus corpus at ALL in the constituion.

He is NOT just speaking about wartime. He alludes to a whole new interpretation of the article. An alarming interpretation.

It is almost as if he is testing the waters, to see if down the road they can roll back any assumption of habeus corpus at all, for US citizens.

Clearly Spector felt the same way, as his response to the AG indicates.

Lastly, I agree that certain tactics need to be used about terrorists that we capture. They are not US citizens (typically) and have attacked our country more than once (9/11 etc.) So there is, in a sense a "invasion or rebllion" as required by the Constitution. However, there has to be a limit to which that suspension of habeus corpus is used.

It sometimes appears that the current administration has been a tad over zealous and far reaching in their comments regarding justice and habeus corpus. One might walk away with the feeling that they don't value those rights AT ALL.

And believe me, I am not a "Bush is bad, everything that goes wrong in my life is Bush's fault" type of person. I live in a city where the majority of people ARE like that, but honestly that's not me at all.