The United States Supreme Court ruled that prisoners at Guantanamo have constitutional rights to challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts. This is a huge deal. The fact that the Bush administration has been denying fundamental constitutional rights to prisoners is huge. (There is an amazing book on this subject). So what have political figures said about this decision?
Well. Obama applauded the decision, saying that we must protect core fundamental values [that everyone has the rights to a fair trial and to see the evidence and charges against them]. And what did McCain say?
Quote:
“It obviously concerns me. These are unlawful combatants, they are not American citizens, but — and I think that we should pay attention to justice Roberts’ opinion in this decision — but it is a decision the Supreme Court has made. Now we need to move forward. As you know, I always favored closing of Guantanamo Bay and I still think that we ought to do that.”
McCain also said:
“The Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
How does John McCain favor closing down Guantanamo (whose main purpose is to torture and harshly interrogate prisoners outside the law) while at the same time supporting the right to deny prisoners habeas corpus and the rights to see the evidence against them? It doesn’t matter whether the prisoners in Guantanamo are terrorists (most of them aren’t, are are being held without any evidence, being forced to sign confessions after torture), the founders of this country specifically set up a process that gives EVERYBODY being charged and held in prison the rights to see the evidence against them and the right to a fair trial. This was set up to protect EVERYBODY. (again) That the Bush administration is taking away basic civil liberties like this is terrifying, whats more terrifying is that the Republican candidate will carry on the same policies!
John McCain was held as a POW for five years, being treated much like the prisoners at Guantanamo. Why would he support legally allowing torture and arbitrary arrest and confinement? Has he forgotten? McCain is no national hero if he thinks that it is fine to ignore the Constitution and the fundamental principals of his country and take away prisoners rights. Torture is NOT an American value, and I think it’s absolutely disgusting that we’re actually having a public debate about whether or not prisoners have rights to even know why they’re being imprisoned!
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June 15, 2008 at 3:59 am
My new WordPress MU Site » Blog Archive » McCain Opposes Habeas Corpus!
[...] Cujo359 wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptHow does John McCain favor closing down Guantanamo (whose main purpose is to torture and harshly interrogate prisoners outside the law) while at the same time supporting the right to deny prisoners habeas corpus and the rights to see … [...]