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.
This is beyond frightening. This is truly insane.
Miranda? For terrorists?
Tilt...we are in the twilight zone without a doubt.
Miranda rights for the captured?
If this is true, be grateful --- it will literally finish off John McCain.
"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."
Came to the conclusion that, McCain, Graham, Warner, and all the other defunct and derelict Senators and Reps. that are perverting the constitution along with our rights as United States citizens, are just cruel and heartless people...
Thanks a freaking lot, McCain.
From the article: (Andy McCarthy- caps are his)
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.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/
It like living in Bizzaro world!
With McCain, there is nothing which is NOT about him. Its ALL about him. The guy is N. V. T. S. - NUTS! He has never won a GOP primary and he will not in 2008 (dem crossover votes don't count).
SEN. JOHN McCAIN: THE ULTIMATE "RHINESTONE HERO"
SEN. JOHN McCAIN: THE ULTIMATE "RHINESTONE HERO" Part II
U.S. Sen. John McCain is no War Hero
John McCain: The Manchurian Candidate
John McCain, you treasonous bastard, I challenge you or any of your traitorous cohorts...
McCain Is Booed by Labor Activists
McCain Rides to Kerry's Rescue: "John Kerry is Not Weak on Defense" (Today Show alert)
John McCain SCREAMS AT 9/11 FSA MEMBERS FOR OPPOSING HIS BILL TO GIVE AMNESTY FOR ILLEGALS
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1704261/posts?page=334#334
To: eeevil conservative
McCain & Co. on Interrogation [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
According to Roll Call (sub. required), 8 Republicans join the trio in opposing the White House: Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Richard Lugar, Mike DeWine, Gordon Smith, John Sununu, Lincoln Chafee (natch), and Chuck Hagel.
Makes me all the less bothered DeWine's reelection prospects aren't so hot.
The Roll Call piece also says:
With 11 GOP supporters and the expected backing of a majority of Democrats, the Armed Services proposal, which passed the panel with largely Democratic support last week, could draw as many as 56 votes.
But the senior Senate GOP aide noted that that count would apply only if those Senators actually have an opportunity to vote for the Warner-McCain-Graham alternative to the president’s bill. Frist could decide to use a procedural maneuver, known as filling the amendment tree, to prevent an up-or-down vote on the trio’s proposal. Still, Frist would need 60 votes to choke off any potential filibuster of the president’s plan — a tall order.
While it is always possible that Frist could decide to bring up one or both proposals with no restrictions on amendments, giving opponents an opportunity to present their alternatives, the more likely scenario is one in which Frist tries to restrict the debate in an attempt to minimize the damage that already has been done to a national security message that was supposed to be the Republicans’ ace in the hole going into the Nov. 7 elections. Additionally, adding structure and limits to the debate could also serve to head-off the potential of Democratic attempts to hijack the proceedings with other issues.
Of course, Frist also could decide to punt the issue into next week or beyond if talks between the warring parties appear to be bearing fruit.
334 posted on 09/19/2006 1:41:30 PM EDT by MaestroLC ("Let him who wants peace prepare for war."--Vegetius, A.D. Forth Century)
"Soldiers have to read the terrorists their Miranda rights???"
Am I reading that correctly. WTF?????????
We are doomed to lose this war if that is the case/
We're not doomed ... but we are going to be badly hurt by the numbnuts in Congress
And yes .. I do expect to be hit again by the terrorists
They will have a lot of blood on their hands.
yep and their are too friggin stupid to realize it
grrr
their = they are
Miranda warnings to increased numbers of enemy dead? Unlikely.
I don't believe the Miranda rights were read to our two soldiers who recently were captured and sliced up to the point where they had to be ID'd by DNA.
Thank You John McCain!(...Whose side are you on?) |
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McCain, Graham, and Warner are GIRLIE MEN....Collins is a dumbass girl.
Anything you say, can and will be used against you in the voting booth.
If you can't afford an attorney, the ACLU will provide you one.
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