[RalphyS]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Chase)

First of all, the whole "presumed innocent" thing doesn't apply to Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters caught in the battlefields of Afghanistan. It's different if a suspected terrorist was caught in Cleveland, Ohio.

Well first of all, you do 'presume' a lot in regard to the people in the secret prisons. You do presume that they are only caught in the battlefields, where do you get that info from? Have you seen the accounts of the 3 British guys who had been detained in Gitmo? They have never been on a battlefield!

Quote: (Originally Posted by Chase)

Nevertheless, Al Qaeda is not a military representing a certain country, nor are they uniformed soldiers. They break the rules of war on a daily basis and to me, that means that they agree to void any sorts of rules of engagement used towards them. What possibly irks me even more is that the United States is villified here and not Al Qaeda or any other Islamo-fascist organization. It's like "although Al Qaeda is infamous for brutally executing the innocent civilians they capture, they deserve to be treated with nothing but utmost respect when arrested by uniformed, enemy soldiers." We're not executing people, we don't set up concentration camps for terrorists. We're holding them in locations that we prefer not to disclose. I mean, the world knows where Gitmo is... but there are still people who have some sort of problem with it. What do you propose we do? Have a full length, individual trial for each person that would like to kill every "infidel" of the Western world?

Well, I think you do have to pick you choice, either the USA is at war with Al Quaeda, as your president describes it a 'war on terror' or Al Quaeda are criminals. For both choices there are rules, if you are at war, the rules of the Geneva convention apply, if they are criminals, they have rights like other criminals and the innocent until proven guilty rule applies and I would indeed see them tried. But maybe we need to set a different set of rules for these 'people', but until there are different rules approved by your Supreme Court or an international court of justice, they need to be treated according to the existing rules.

Hey, I watch '24' and enjoy it just like any other guy, but tv isn't real life!

Another thing, I like to say in support of 'just treatment for captured terrorists or criminals for that matter'. I do not trust your government enough to let them decide, whoever is guilty enough to deserve this sort of treatment, detention in secret prisons or even a 'known' place like Gitmo, and yes, I would like to see independent judges rule on whether taking people to prison is indeed justified or not.