Senators McCain and Graham want the surviving Boston Marathon bomber designated an “enemy combatant” and dealt with accordingly. I hope this is just more ill-conceived political theater because both of them should know that our Constitution applies to this case which deals with activities inside the borders of the United States of America.
Think about it – if we treat this suspect as an “enemy combatant” and suspend the Constitution, who is next? You? Your neighbor? These Senators have both spoken about the proverbial “slippery slope” in the past and now they would create the steepest “slippery slope” ever imagined. It must be political theater.
Forget, for a moment, that the callous acts took place inside the borders of the United States of America and pretend that the bomber was designated as an “enemy combatant.” Wouldn’t that mean that he was part of some enemy force? Can one person, acting alone, ever be an “enemy combatant” of the United States of America? Are we that small and that insignificant? And, if there is a group of some kind acting in support of the Boston bombers, wouldn’t it be appropriate for that the group be designated as an enemy of the United States of America before we designate a member of that group as an “enemy combatant?”
Let’s cool off for just a moment before we do something really stupid like throwing our Constitution out the window. We have one of the most robust, fair, and lasting legal systems in the world. Arguably, our legal system is one of the defining characteristics of our Nation and something that the citizens of other nations of the world want for themselves. We shouldn’t even consider such folly as these two Senators are suggesting.
In the wake of 9-11, our government did some things that we now hear were probably outside the limits of our Constitution and, perhaps, outside the bounds of the Geneva Convention. Shouldn’t we learn from that experience and avoid any such actions in the future?
As Americans, can we ever allow ignorance or stupidity to set a precedent?
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