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PrintApril 22, 2013
Yes, treat the terrorist as an enemy combatant
No one values due process more than I do. After all, my dad's cousin spent 14 years in a Cuban prison without a trial. I understand the arguments that people have certain rights. There is no bigger right than being represented by an attorney or objecting to indefinite detention.
However, this young man in Boston is no political prisoner or US citizen who robbed a bank. He was not picked up by a secret police for saying that Obama did not close Guantanamo.
He is a terrorist who joined forces with his older brother, and perhaps others, to fight the US. He left the Bill of Rights behind the moment that he placed a bomb and killed innocent people watching a traditional race.
So what do you have to do to get named an enemy combatant? My guess is that most Americans agree that killing innocent people at the Boston Marathon is enough to be called an enemy combatant. This guy is clearly an enemy and he is combating the US.
Here is the bottom line: Dzhokhar will be convicted. The evidence is pretty good. He is even charged with killing a police officer. We won't have much problem finding a jury that will find him guilty.
The real question is: What does he know? How can we get him to talk
I agree with The Wall Street Journal:
"The important security issue isn't convicting Dzhokhar but finding out what he knows that might prevent a future attack or break up a terror network. This is where naming him an enemy combatant would be useful. Such a designation allows for extensive, long-term interrogation without a lawyer. Especially because President Obama has barred enhanced-interrogation techniques, such long-term psychological pressure can be crucial to learning if the brothers worked with anyone else, if they received terrorist training, and more."
We need to name him an enemy combatant so that we can gather some intelligence, or information about his potential allies and their plans.
So let's send him down to GITMO for two reasons:
1) We need information: and,
2) We need to send a message that we understand that this is a war against the US not some guy involved in identity theft.
Does the Obama administration have the courage to upset the ACLU and the college professors?
I hope so because this is about preventing the next attack not convicting the younger brother.
