NYT: Fear Itself

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/opinion/06thu1.html?hp


Fear Itself

Published: May 5, 2010

snip//

Lawmakers like Senators John McCain of Arizona and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Representative Peter King of New York were immediately outraged that Mr. Shahzad — a United States citizen accused of an attempted attack on civilians in an American city — was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and eventually read his Miranda rights.

They are demanding that Mr. Shahzad be declared an illegal enemy combatant, stripped of any rights and brought before a military tribunal. They have opened another round of sneering at “the law enforcement approach” to terrorism. That is contemptuous, first of all, of the police officers whose quick actions may have saved untold numbers and the other people who identified and tracked Mr. Shahzad with amazing speed.

It also ignores reality. According to all reports, Mr. Shahzad started talking even before he was read his rights (“the law enforcement approach” allows investigators to question suspects immediately if there is an imminent threat to the public). When he was read his rights, Mr. Shahzad seems to have kept talking. The Times reported on Wednesday that he waived his right to a speedy arraignment — to go on talking.

To get around the inconvenient fact that Mr. Shahzad is a citizen, Mr. Lieberman is even calling for a law allowing Americans accused (not convicted) of unspecified crimes to be stripped of their citizenship and retroactively deprived of due process under the law.

snip//

Senators McCain and Lieberman say military trials will show strength. Abandoning democratic institutions in the face of terrorism is an act of surrender. It will not make this country safer. It will make it more vulnerable.

[HughMoran]

1. Those three clowns are indescribably small-minded

They want to throw the Constitution in the garbage can to try to score a few political points with the paranoid rageaholics. I say we ensure that these idiots lose their next election.

[Giant Robot]

2. As I said a couple of days ago to a co-worker

There was a terrorist attack on New York, the person who did it was identified, then caught, and no countries were invaded in the process. Isn't that an interesting way of handling things.