Is Freedom a Strength or Weakness

On Thursday, the Supreme Court bitch slapped the Bush administration for the 3rd time over holding uncharged prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The ruling basically says that the government cannot hold foreign nationals on US soil (the court previously ruled that Gitmo was essentially US soil) without charge.

For insight into the minorities viewpoint, Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the court didn't have the authority to overrule the commission in Gitmo given that the Congress and President approved them. Really? I thought one of the purposes of the Supreme Court was to ensure that laws were constitutional. Otherwise, Congress could just pass a law instituting slavery and the Supreme Court would say it's OK.

The Bush administration's argument has consistently been that we do not have laws that apply to to the war on terror because the combatants are not part of an army nor are they fighting for a country. Bush argues that since the combatants' goal is to destroy our country and way of life, providing them with the same rights as other citizens (in the case where the combatants are US citizens) or prisoners of war (where they are captured on the battlefield) is soft-headed. We don't have to prove they were out to murder US citizens because that's their proclaimed goal. We didn't arrest privates in the German army for shooting at Americans in WWII. We either killed them during battle or threw them into POW camps for the duration of the war.

Bush also claims, correctly, that during previous wars presidents have taken great leeway in suspending parts of the constitution. For instance, Lincoln took advantage of a clause in the constitution that allows for the suspension of habeas corpus during a rebellion and Roosevelt put all Japanese-Americans in concentration camps without any evidence of guilt. In essence, his argument is that the constitution is not a suicide pact and that rights must sometimes be temporarily suspended to protect our liberty.

The opposite view is that any crisis involving our country is temporary and that preserving our liberties is more important than any bit player in history. If we proclaim the values of democracy and freedom during peacetime we should also do so when we are at war. It is important that we set an example to the counties that we want to become democracies that we always live by laws and not the whims of whoever is in power.

Unlike Bush, I do not think that democracy makes us weak. Rather, it shows our strength in the face of these fascists. I also believe that if these guys we capture on the battlefield claim to be part of Al Queda, or something similar, we should interrogate (but not torture) them and then send them back to their home countries. Just as we would want our fighters returned.

This is probably the last ruling that the court will make on Gitmo during Bush's term. My sense is that McCain will continue similar policies and try to continue to trim the Constitution. With Obama, who knows. Democratic presidents always like to prove how tough they are after they get into office.

Why these guys have a hard time with the concept that our Constitution has served us well for over 200 years and will continue to do so without their meddling is beyond me.