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Posted on 05/31/2004 3:14:38 PM PDT by Gracey
Alan Dershowitz is a good example of what I have started calling a "Righteous Jew". I'm not Jewish, so I hope that doesn't offend any Jewish people, but it seems to me that a lot of Jewish people don't want to admit, or actually do not realize (although that's a little hard to believe) that the Islamfascists actually want to kill them (amoung the rest of us) wherever they are. Some other folks, like Dershowitz, get it. Most are on the right, of course, but as the professor demonstrates, not all.
"He was an enemy to the human name. Those who declare war against the human race may be struck out of existence as soon as they are apprehended. He was not executed according to those beautiful legal ceremonies which are pointed out by the laws in criminal cases. The enormity of his crimes did not entitle him to it. I am truly a friend to legal forms and methods; but, sir, the occasion warranted the measure.
A pirate, an outlaw, or a common enemy to all mankind, may be put to death at any time. It is justified by the laws of nature and nations. "
Hope? First, he needs to study the conventions before he comments on them. The professor makes four points.
"First, democracies must be legally empowered to attack terrorists who hide among civilians, so long as proportional force is employed. ..."
They already are. If for example, a military unit occupies a hospital and fires upon an opposing force from that hospital, then the opposing force may legally fire upon that hospital and any civilian casualties are the fault of the military unit.
"Second, a new category of prisoner should be recognized for captured terrorists and those who support them. They are not "prisoners of war," neither are they "ordinary criminals.""
There is no need for this 'new category'. They are already covered as "illegal combatants" and are wholy outside the protections of the conventions. They can be killed on sight.
"Third, the law must come to realize that the traditional sharp line between combatants and civilians has been replaced by a continuum of civilian-ness. ... The law should recognize this continuum in dealing with those who are complicit, to some degree, in terrorism."
It already does, any one who provides support to an "illegal combatant" is also an "illegal combatant".
"Fourth, the treaties against all forms of torture must begin to recognize differences in degree among varying forms of rough interrogation, ranging from trickery and humiliation, on the one hand, to lethal torture on the other. They must also recognize that any country faced with a ticking-time-bomb terrorist would resort to some forms of interrogation that are today prohibited by the treaty."
Well, the good professor gets one right, one out of four, he's improving.
Second, a new category of prisoner should be recognized...
The category is old. It's the media (and Dershowitz) that need to recognize it. Bush has referred to it off regarding all the illegal combatants we've detained. The Supreme Court so listed the German saboteurs in WWII when it authorized their execution. Popular American culture also knew this category, albeit under a simpler, less precise, name. Think of all those episodes of Hogan's Heroes in which our "heroes" (terrorists by the local standards) were running around in civilian clothing or even in German clothing. If caught they risked what? Being shot as a spy! Any old movie buff should know that being doing military activities out of uniform leaves you no rights and risks that penalty. Civilians knowingly assisting "spies" are guilty of treason and aren't treated much better than the spies themselves. The problem isn't the rules, they've always right on such issues. The problem is that liberals have been applying the old rules to terrorists favoring their own pet liberal causes, for whom the rules were never intended to apply. Now the liberals can't admit they were wrong defending their terrorist, so they must pretend that the rules had covered all terrorists and thus pretend that the rules need fixing. Once again the right has been right all along and the left is twisting words to meet their current purposes.
Thanks for sharing some profound thoughts.
Yeah, I am surprised that Dershowitz gets it, I only hope members of my former temple start to get it too. They are all on the left, but being on the left is not going to help them in this war.
Thanks. Does anyone have a Jewish ping list? I'm sure many of our conservative Jews would be interested in this.
Might try SJackson
Dershowitz gets it.........I heard him say on TV the other night...................."They want to kill our children and grandchildren"
Thanks
And thank you Jackson
Thanks
ping
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S Jackson has one
Add me to the list please... Thank You... KingNo155
Hmmm, it's just going to kill him when he has to vote for Bush.
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