[ExI] barack W. obama

[Emlyn]

2009/9/28 Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com>:
> 2009/9/28 spike <spike66 at att.net>:
>> Ja it does, because we are in a situation where every president, immediately
>> upon taking office, becomes a law breaker.  We may end up with an odd
>> situation where each sitting president must use executive authority to
>> pardon or block prosecution of her immediate predecessor, otherwise face
>> prosecution herself immediately upon leaving office.  I get the feeling this
>> is almost what we have today.
>
> Aren't we say the same thing? The alternative would be: declare war if
> you feel you need to, stop dealing with enemies as if they were
> criminals and you were involved in a law-enforcement exercise.
>
> This would be best for the US legal system *and* for US enemies, who
> would not be considered as criminal defendants from a procedural point
> of view, but at the same time would be under the (relative) protection
> of international law, e.g., the Geneva Convention, and recognised as
> legitimate combatants.
>
> The only loser would be the propaganda pretence of merely
> administering some kind of divine justice, rather than openly looking,
> within limits dictated by usage and reciprocity, after one's own
> interests throughout the world, as even the US used to do, say, during
> the XIX century.
>
> --
> Stefano Vaj

I agree with what (I think) Stefano is saying. If you've got no way to
legally detain these people, then let them go. The precedent being set
here is far worse for the US than the danger posed by a handful of
people. In the future, declare war where appropriate.

It seems to me that there's a problem with the law here, in that
you've got no good system for dealing with "asymmetrical warfare"
combatants, and "non state actors". So fix that, and move forward.

Surely, if you find yourself detaining people indefinitely on foreign
soil, it's a sign that you are approaching things the wrong way. If it
was a movie, it's what the bad guys would be doing.

-- 
Emlyn

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