Posted on 09/19/2006 9:09:17 AM PDT by Republican Red
Richard Miniter has an interesting article at Opinion Journal today, explaining that among the things that moved House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter toward the president's proposal on military commissions and away from the McCain/Graham/Warner proposal which is more modeled on the Uniform Code of Military Justice is the outrage that the UCMJ would require us to give Miranda warnings at the moment of battlefield capture for an al Qaeda terrorist.
This really demonstrates how irresponsible the passage and signing of the 2005 McCain Amendment was.
I note in fairness that I believe Sen. Graham — who I have criticized in these quarters for his stance on military commissions (see, e.g., here) — has indicated during senate hearings that he does not think al Qaeda should profit from the UCMJ's generous Miranda protections (which are actually better than what criminals get in the civilian justice system).
But that's irrelevant because the horse is already out of the barn.
Attention class: THANKS TO THE McCAIN AMENDMENT, WE ARE ALREADY OBLIGATED TO PROVIDE MIRANDA WARNINGS IF WE HAVE ANY HOPE OF USING CONFESSION EVIDENCE IN EVENTUAL TERRORIST TRIALS.
This is very frustrating because people like yours truly implored Congress not to pass, and the president not to sign, the McCain Amendment for just this reason. The McCain Amendment vested alien enemy combatants held outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts with Fifth Amendment rights. This was something the senate had carefully refrained from doing in 1994 when it consented to the UN Convention Against Torture (which President Clinton then ratified).
In 2000, in Dickerson v. United States, the Supreme Court upended 30+ years of contrary jurisprudence by holding that the rights invented by the 1966 Miranda decision are now considered part of the core guarantee of the 5th Amendment's right against compulsory self-incrimination.
Consequently, if al Qaeda gets 5th Amendment protection, it also gets Miranda protection. Miranda requires a detainee to be told he has a right not to answer any questions, and a right to have a lawyer, at public expense, present for all questioning. That may not be what Congress and President Bush really intended, but that's what they did.
Now, neither Miranda nor the 5th Amendment forbids coercive interrogation short of torture. But they do mean that evidence derived from questioning that violates Miranda cannot be used at trial because to do so would violate the 5th Amendment — again, not because the Constitution itself gives the 5th Amendment to alien jihadists (it doesn't) but because the McCain Amendment does.
If Congress is upset at the prospect of battlefield Miranda warnings for jihadists, it should not just worry about the current interrogations/military commissions proposal. It should repeal the McCain Amendment's extension of constitutional rights to alien jihadists.
McPain will NEVER get my vote....I would write in deputy dawg before casting a vote for him
By all means, let's give Miranda warnings to jihadists ON the battlefield. For that's matter, let's give them free legal advice ON the battlefield.
Soldiers have to read the terrorists their Miranda rights???
My head is about to explod
WE CAN NOT WIN THIS WOT IN THE COURT ROOM
Yes! OMG
I'm sick. Literally sick. We cannot, as a country, withstand this kind of insanity.
If we had told our WWII vets that in the next big war we'd be giving the bad guys the Miranda warning ON the battlefield, they'd have laid down their arms and picked up German dictionaries because what's the point of continuing?
This is insanity.
I think I'm living in an alternate universe. This is a nightmare.
There was a time when I said I'd never vote for McCain in a primary but would vote for him if he won the nomination to prevent a Hillary presidency. Not anymore. I think the man is genuinely insane and I wouldn't vote for him if he were running against Joe Stalin. The prospect of a Hillary presidency does not scare me nearly as much as a McCain stint would.
McCain took the Army reg, wrote it up in his bill and lied to the country, claiming we needed a "new" law, and his MSM accomplices lied for him.
So, now most of the country believes the Army was torturing prisoners before McStain rode to the rescue. A total lie, told to further his Presidential ambitions.
they both scare the hell out of me....if the election comes down to this, we conservatives need to band together and cast our collective votes for a write in candidate. we may not win, but if 20% of the electorate write in a candidate, it will send a very strong message.........
I keep praying the nightmare will end ... these losers will only get more people killed
Why stop with mere Miranda warnings?
If any jihadist is ever treated the least bit roughly during or after capture, they must be immediately released with profuse apologies from the US government, gift certificates to "Jihad-is-Us" stores, free travel vouchers for airline flights to anywhere they might want to go, educational vouchers valid for any US flight school, and a "green card" for US residence. This is all to show the precious jihadists that we meant no harm in handling them with such callous indifference, and that we in the USA welcome everyone with open arms because we are sappy, dippy liberals. /s
That's interesting. Despite what we see on TV, Miranda is only required for criminal suspects prior to questioning, not at the point of arrest. A good defense attorney can argue that the point of arrest is so confusing that the suspect did not fully understand their rights.
If you don't have any questions, no warning needed.
I believe that as time goes on, Senator McCain is showing himself to be more deranged.
For his next number, McCain will explore whether or not it should be ok to kill the enemy on the battlefield.
McCain thinks we secure our freedom by setting the best example. But in fact, we will never earn the respect of those who criticize us now. We must secure our freedom by destroying terrorists, their safe havens, the states that support them, and the means by which they are funded. If McCain thinks we'll win respect from our enemies or those who are neutral by treating terrorists like potentially innocent citizens, then he is hopelessly naive. He, Warner, and Graham are endangering the US so they can popular with the New York Times and the Left. They're basically uncomfortable with those of us who are unabashedly proud of our country and eager to smite our foes who bring terrorists attacks to the US and the world. We embarrass them.
Everything needing a presidential veto just has to have a fetal stem cell research funding rider attached to it.
But that's irrelevant because the horse is already out of the barn.
Oops, Lindsay almost did something right.
Lindsey Ping
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