In her essay Can U.S. Citizens Be Held as Enemy Combatants, Jennifer Vanklausen explores the ethical question of our government’s policy to hold American citizens suspected of terrorist activity against the United States as enemy combatants, withholding their constitutional rights as provided in the fifth and sixth amendments, during an undeclared war. Ms. Vanklausen relies on primary and secondary sources with strong credentials in the realm of the constitution, law, public policy, and Americans’ right to freedom (Cato Inst., n.d.; Wikipedia, 2010) to support her argument. The authors have been published in a variety of respected periodicals as well as writing books on these topics. Her sources cite the expert opinions of Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Antonin Scalia (“Can U.S. Citizens Be Held as Enemy Combatants”, Reinking & von der Osten, 2007, pp. 228, 231-233), who are entrusted with the ultimate responsibility to interpret our nation’s constitution and apply this standard to arguments brought before the Court when the rule of law is in question. Ms. Vanklausen also employs excerpts from the Bill of Rights to clarify the protections these individuals are not permitted in this situation. She provides a quotation by Thomas Jefferson, and notes decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Second Circuit Court, and Federal Court Judge Mukasey. She also refers to established truths upon which Americans depend as signs of their freedom, such as “The foundation of liberty has always rested on the resistance to the idea of arbitrary imprisonment by an executive. (Reinking & von der Osten, 2007) This essay first focuses on the reasoning for finding Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi to be enemy combatants to establi... ... middle of paper ... ...ty and possibly violating the rights of the people who put gave them their power. However, it seems she does not fully comprehend all of the concepts involved in this issue to project her opinion with the utmost clarity. Works Cited Cato Institute (n.d.). [profile]. Retrieved April 3, 2010 from http://www.cato.org/people/nat-hentoff Cato Institute (n.d.). [profile]. Retrieved April 3, 2010 from http://www.cato.org/people/harvey-silverglate J. A. Reinking & R. von der Osten, R. (2007). Strategies for successful writing: A rhetoric, research guide, reader, and handbook (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentiss Hall. ISBN: 0-13-189195-2. Wikipedia (2010). [profile]. Retrieved April 3, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Norman_Grigg Wikipedia (2010). [profile]. Retrieved April 3, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Wittes
Writing with Readings and Handbook. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. 52-57. Print.
The analysis over Crawford’s definition for Just War Theory can reinforces the statement above. Crawford’s argument talks about the prevention of greater harm as long as “moral judgments about right action [are] rooted” toward each particular component of the definition. However, it was noted that Crawford’s conclusion about terrorist wasn’t completely true and excluding them from the Just War Theory was more complicated. Byford uses different arguments to explain the difficulty of excluding terrorists as states. Within his comparison there are different war times when states acted as radical as terrorist but we never labeled them as
The act of interrogation has been around for thousands of years. From the Punic Wars to the war in Iraq, interrogating criminals, prisoners or military officers in order to receive advantageous information has been regularly used. These interrogation techniques can range from physical pain to emotional distress. Hitting an individual with a whip while they hang from a ceiling or excessively questioning them may seem like an ideal way to get them to reveal something, but in reality it is ineffective and . This is because even the most enduring individual can be made to admit anything under excruciating circumstances. In the Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights there is a provision (“no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself” ) which reflects a time-honored common principle that no person is bound to betray him or herself or can be forced to give incriminating evidence. This ideology of self-incrimination has been challenged heavily over the past s...
September 11th, 2001. An organization denoted as terrorists by the United States, Al-Qaeda, attacked the U.S on our own soil. In his “Letter to the American People”, the leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, takes a defensive stance regarding the attack, giving his justifications of why the attack on the U.S was warranted and acceptable in the terms of Just War Theory, citing examples of the Right to Self-Defense and reasons why he was justified in targeting American civilians. Just War Theory is comprised of ideas of values to determine when acts of aggression are morally justified or not, and it is primarily split into two categories, Jus Ad Bellum (Justice of War) and Jus In Bello (Justice in War) (Walzer 21). In this essay, I will be arguing against Bin Laden’s claims of the justification of Al-Qaeda’s attack, using the failure of Bin Laden’s attack to meet the requirements for a just war in terms of Jus Ad Bellum and Jus In Bello.
2. What is the constitutional process, if any, that is afforded to those citizens who are accused of being an “enemy combatant”, and whom wish to challenge the government’s assertion?
Indeed, as prior U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wrote when describing the war on terror, “this will be a war like none other our nation has faced.” However, these changes bring the morality of this new face of war into question, and the justification of drone use and other modern military tactics involved in the war on terror is a subject of much debate. Focusing on U.S. involvement in Yemen from 2010-2015 as part of the war on terror, this essay will argue that, while the U.S. has met most of the criteria of jus ad bellum, the methods the U.S. has employed to counter terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda have ultimately violated the principles of just war theory, even when analyzed from the perspective of modern warfare within the framework of the current global
A Writ of Habeas Corpus is an authoritative order forcing governments to provide the “body” of the detainee in which the legality of their detention and individual liberties will be challenged. Historically associated with civil liberty violation and the injustice of illegally detaining potentially enemies of the state, jurisdictional issues regarding their detaining location have made justice difficult to administer and deliver. Detaining enemies for their participation, involvement, and/or ties to threats of terror towards the United States will result the confinement of combatants, as solidified by the US Constitution, however, to what extent will they be forced to stay?. Residents of Guantanamo Bay are just; enemies of the state, accused individual that have been arrested and detain with minimal civil human rights to our jurisdictional due process that we American’s hold dear; with only a Writ of Habeas Corpus as their life line to legality and freedom. Although controversial in its conception and implementation by US presidential administration, judiciary members have cordially interpreted cases of questionable detention and the legality of doing so. It is truly unfortunate when individuals are tossed into confinement illegally with no help and/or the promise of their restorative freedoms (ACLU, 2014).
The book’s title, with its dry allusion to the separation of powers, does not do it justice. “Guantánamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power” represents the best account yet of what Mr. Margulies calls “a human rights debacle that will eventually take its place alongside other wartime misadventures, including the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the prosecutions under the Espionage and Sedition Acts during World War I, and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War.”
The United States angers terrorists and other foreigners on a daily basis, but we find it hard to understand why. Examples abound and most often relate to ignorant decisions on behalf of the government concerning the welfare of these foreigners. The situation on the island of Cuba at the Naval Station of Guantánamo Bay has grown out of hand. Here, the U.S. holds the prisoners that it has captured as part of its war on terrorism in a camp. They hold ver 600 men there without contact with their home countries or families and without the legal consultation of a lawyer. President Bush classifies these prisoners as “enemy combatants” and the U.S. says that for this reason they can withhold their rights unlike a normal prisoner in the case of wars (Jost).
America’s Use of Torture in Interrogations of Suspected Terrorists Violates Human Rights by Lisa Hajjar
Habeas corpus is a way of determining whether those that are jailed have been jailed through the legal processes and if the reason behind the jailing is legal. This paper will discuss how the administration led by Bush kept prisoners at GITMO during the war on terror. The civil rights of the prisoners were never considered since the place where they were kept was beyond the reach of the constitution of the United States of America. It was the duty of the Supreme Court to protect the rights of the prisoners by the use of Habeas Corpus and given orders of the shutting down of GITMO facility.
The indefinite detention provision of the law was described as a “historic assault on American liberty”. United States District Judge Katherine B. Forrest, ruled the detention violates the first and fifth amendments of the Constitution and issued a Preliminary Injunction preventing the U.S government from enforcing it. As stated in Article 10, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any charge against
The Third Geneva Convention states that “lawful enemy combatant” is a member of the regular forces of a State party engaged in hostilities against the United States, or a member of a militia, volunteer corps, or organized resistance movement belonging to a State
I have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.
During the course of this semester; the variety of writing styles and essays assigned to me in my communication skills class encouraged the development of my writing skills, as well as provided me with more self-assurance in my abilities. My writing, research, and presentation abilities enhanced through practice, determination, and the understanding I gained during this course. With every single writing assignment, I learned new innovative approaches and skills, which enhanced my abilities to improve my thoughts logically, enabling me to write more clearly, and to organize my papers more effectively. At the beginning of this semester; despite the fact that I already knew the terminology MAP: message, audience, purpose; I never really understood the significance of MAP. For this reason, my writing lacked clarity, organization, and my writings appeared less focused on the topics. As a result my research papers and essays did not flow as smoothly from one passage to the next. Furthermore, I was unaccustomed with the precise procedures used when writing an essay. For instance, my previous classes before college, although requiring a reference page, did not require me to include proper citations in my writings. After evaluating the quality of my writing toward the end of the semester, I recognized vast improvements in several areas of my writing. By concentrating on the beginning stages of my writings, I could distinguish ahead of time my audience and my message. As a result, my essays are clear, and I remain on topic. In addition to that using transition phrases efficiently also helps my writing to flow smoothly. The proper use of transitions makes my writings easy to follow from one topic to the next. I also learned that pre-writing...