The Republican Bloggers Smear Campaign is gearing up in earnest. Google "Osama and habeus" and you will find beaucoups of Republicans outraged that the "crazy left" would "grant" habeus corpus rights to Osama Bin Laden!! The sky is falling!!! Terror!! What idiots those lefty wimps - like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin, John Adams, etc., etc.!!!
Of course Bin Laden (IN AMERICAN CUSTODY) would have those rights. And, given the videotapes of his bragging about his involvement in terrorism, his hearing would be the shortest in history. The whole point of our system is that we are fair. Habeus corpus basically means you cannot be imprisoned without charge. In times of national emergency habeus corpus can be suspended. But claiming an unending emergency as a way to hold people indefinitely is not right. Even Hitler, even Bin Laden... name your bad guy. Anyone in American custody will have their unalienable rights recognized. Even Saddam Hussein was treated with basic human respect once he was in our custody. Now until then, while he was still a threat to us he was fair game. We tried our best to bomb his evil self to smithereens. We have tried to kill Bin Laden, as we should as long as he is a threat to us. But we should ALWAYS be ready to demonstrate that we are a nation of laws, not of men. Whether your name is George Bush, Saddam Hussein, Terrell Shaw, Osama Bin Laden, George Washington, John Doe, or Adolph Hitler -- if you are in the jurisdiction and control of American justice, you have UNALIENABLE rights.
Anyone who disagrees with that disagrees with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The fact that a majority of Americans do not understand what habeus corpus rights are is beside the point. They know what the Declaration of Independence is, and with it explained in terms of American basic beliefs, I believe they will agree with me.
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