Afghanistan is sliding toward chaos, and risks turning into a narco-terrorist state....We need more resources in Afghanistan. I have been arguing for this since 2002, when I said that we should finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban instead of going into Iraq. I have called for at least two additional combat brigades to support our efforts there. I have also called for at least $1 billion in non-military assistance each year.
Sounds like we're headed for more war, just in a different country.
On Guantanamo:
I have confidence that our system of justice is strong enough to deal with terrorists; Senator McCain does not. That is not the same as giving these detainees the same full privileges as Americans citizens. I never said that, the Supreme Court never said that, and I would never do that as President of the United States.
As to constitutional rights for accused foreign terrorists on our shores, our federal courts and our criminal justice system are well equipped to handle their terror cases. There is no need to keep the suspects in military custody, cut off from lawyers --or to try them in secret military tribunals. They should either be tried in our federal courts or an international tribunal should be convened.
Think back to Richard Reid, the accused "shoe bomber" who pleaded guilty to all counts and received no promises of leniency or other sentence concessions. Reid had excellent appointed counsel and a U.S. District Court Judge presiding over his case. The proceedings were open to the media and public. Important court filings by both the Prosecution and the Defense were available on the Internet. The Government got the conviction and the life sentence it sought.
Our criminal justice system and federal courts have succeeded in trying and convicting numerous terrorists. We don't need military tribunal proceedings, whether they are held at Guantanamo or Ft. Leavenworth, KS. I
Trial by military tribunal is neither necessary nor fair. We can't trust in the integrity of a secret proceeding conducted by the military. If we can't trust in the integrity of the proceeding, we can't trust the end result.
Richard Reid's case proves we can provide even the most unlikable defendant charged with a heinous crime the same constitutional rights we provide to all defendants, and get a conviction and a harsh sentence fair and square. We should insist all such cases be tried this way.
Other examples of the federal court system working in terrorism cases include the first World Trade Center bombing cases, the Embassy Bombing cases, John Walker Lindh, the Buffalo Six and James Ujaamaa. Domestically, there are the cases of the Unabomber, Timonthy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
Examples of where the criminal justice system was not being used initially or at all and which resulted in unfair treatment include Jose Padilla, Yaser Hamdi, and those arrested on material witness warrants and immigration violations and being held in indefinite detention.
In 2001, the Supreme Court, in Zadvydas v. Davis, et al held:
Once an alien enters the country, the legal circumstance changes, for the Due Process Clause applies to all persons within the United States, including aliens, whether their presence is lawful, unlawful, temporary, or permanent....the aliens' liberty interest is not diminished by their lack of a legal right to live at large....
It doesn't get much clearer than that. They do have constitutional rights, including due process and the right to habeas corpus, to name a few.
