Re: bin Laden and habeas corpus –

Timothy McVeigh had the benefit of habeas; last I heard, he's still dead.

McCain's policies – keeping our troop strength tied down in Iraq and creating a de facto sanctuary for bin Laden in Pakistan – give our real enemies more protection than our courts ever could.

Anything less than observing Habeus Corpus for Bin Ladin would result in his death being seen as a Martyr.

Talk about energizing the terrorist base.

McCain is an idiot to not see this.

Your poor lost Obamatrons, Clinton had Bin Laden handed to him on a silver platter and let him go. Now its Bush's fault that hes still out causing death. As for habeous corpus, I certainly hope he's not tried in front of the bleeding heart liberals. Im sure they will want to rehabilitate him.

Jerry in Corpus Chris is right and Obamas idiot liberals who have no war fighting ideas are wrong again.  Terrorists are going to win every time when the weak democrat party is the elected not what would happen if navy man John McCain who is a hero from Viet Nam.  If Gore beat Bush would we be beating the muslims in Iraq or telling Iran no nucs?  No way! John McCain is the choice of real Americans but Barr must be watched out for.

1)  People who say "Sept. 10th mindset" need to stop talking.

2)  Why would it be problematic for Osama bin Laden to be entitled to Habeas Corpus rights?  Isn't that what the United States is about?  Freedom, Liberty, Equality?  Whence the notion that these things are bad?

The problem with McCain's attack is that Pres. Clinton warned the Bush Administration of the threat posed by bin Laden and al Qaeda, but they were only interested in information on Iraq!!!  In addition, the Bushies also dismissed information on impending attacks by al Qaeda on American soil.   Just another example of how McSame doesn't get it at all, and is joined at the hip to W.  

I agree Barry can't take the 3 a.m. call. McCain can and so could Hillary. Thanks to the DNC I guess it'll be McCain taking the call. My poll of dems and independents are voting McCain, writing in Hillary or just not voting. Most of us feel the DNC stole the nominee from Hillary...giving a man votes from MI and his name wasn't even there to vote for....so to heck with the DNC, you have lost the faithful.

John McCain:  you are now officially on notice:

every time you or your cronies use fear mongering I'm donating another $50 to the Obama campaign.  How DARE you try to manipulate Americans with this heinous strategy.

'guess I'll be in bankruptcy by the end of June.

cha ching.

55 y.o. white woman with a brain who votes in Purple AZ.

Umm, let me see, the four people who were responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing are currently serving life sentences, and Osama is where?  I think Habeas Corpus worked well enough in the first bombing.  The McCain group acts like following the law means letting them go free!

jerry - Liberals aren't afraid at all of defending this country which is why we went into Afghanistan to capture Osama Bin Laden.  I have NO idea what going to Iraq had to do with defending this country whatsoever, other than to remove soldiers from Afghanistan where we should have been.  And I believe George Bush was president when the WTC was attacked the second time, and he was warned that an attack was imminent and HE chose to ignore it.  What he was doing, I don't know.   As far as Obama paying little attention to foreign policies, he was one of the few who got it right about going to war in Iraq.  He also believes talking (which is NOT the same as appeasing) is not out of the question.  Especially since the U.S. currently talks with South Korea, Russia, China and many other countries under what is currently called "diplomacy".  

I thought terrorists were just common criminals. Or does McCain think they deserve some form of recognition of a higher standing? This is McCain's weakness. He sees the terrorists as some form of well organized Army of 1,000,000, ready to invade the shores of the U.S. Is not McCain actually giving them more credit then what they are due by arguing they are more then common criminals. The terrorists are common criminals and it will require the cooperation of many Nations to hunt down and to eliminate these thugs. GWB has all but destroyed any working relationships we have had with other Nations where such cooperaton is now difficult to achieve. McCain wants to continue this go it alone search and destroy mission against terrorists in a world where the terrorists can leap-frog from one location to another because of this lack of cooperation with other Nations that GWB has created. Whereas Obama will be able to rebuild the confidence and cooperation we need from other Nations in order to elimnate any safe havens for the terrorists and increasing our ability  to elimnate terrorism across the globe. McCain on the other hand wants to continue to provide the terrorists a training ground in Iraq, and to ignore the leap-frogging of terrorists to other parts of the world by keeping our strength and forces bogged down in Iraq.  

I don't understand McCain's logic here--
Nobody declared a global war on Neo-Nazis after the OKCity bombings, tho the movement extends all over the world.  McVeigh was a criminal who was caught by the FBI and got what he deserved after a fair trial conducted according to US law.
9/11 WAS a criminal act and does not represent Islamic thought except in a perverted way. A huge international police force exists just for the purpose of bringing criminals to justice wherever they might hide. In Afghanistan, US Army Special forces and the CIA with the aid of the Pakistani forces were ALMOST allowed to do their job and catch the ringleaders and "bring them to justice" (Bush) Those are all legal terms and the Afghanistan conflict was necessary and almost successful.
The war in Iraq was, as we now know, prosecuted under the auspices of a global war on terror but was really about securing Iraqi oil reserves and promoting the Bush view of democracy in the Middle East; and it really represents another "crusade" in the historical sense. This war has had the result of inflaming anti-Americanism not just in the Islamic world but throughout the world, and brought the reality of real terrorism closer to the US.
And, yes, Osama if caught (and I also prefer dead to alive) would get habeus corpus rights under both US and International law. As McCain so famously put it "This is not about who they are, it's about who WE are."
We need as a nation and as individual Americans to put fear-mongering politicians out to pasture; and to stop being afraid of our own-created shadows in order to prevail and wind back our reputation in the world.

Obama is a FRAUD and Not qualified to lead our country.  He has ZERO foreign policy experience.  OBama is scary for our country - McCain will take good care of us - that is why the Millions of Hillary supporters will vote for him.

Wow. Not only is it total ignorance of the last forty years of American foreign policy towards the Middle East, not only is it total ignorance of how the military tactics of the past eight years have not just failed us but have strengthened the enemy, and not only is it glossing over the Bush Administration's failure to even recognize the blatant and obvious threat for the first eight months of their first term, a failure so incomprehensibly inept that a small portion of this country refuses to believe our leaders could be so dumb and actually thinks that they were complicit in the attacks themselves, but it is also making the appeal to the lowest common denominator by saying Senator Obama would "grant" habeas corpus rights to Osama bin Laden, dancing around the fact that the rule of law, the principle upon which this nation was built, requires it.

At this point, I have to make an effort in order to respect Senator McCain.

Actually all of the successes against terrorists who threaten the west have been of the old fashioned law enforcement variety. The Iraq invasion, the failure to pursue the actual terrorists who attacked us where they actually are, betrayal of those like interpreters who have worked with us, torture, the incarceration of the innocent along with the dangerous with no recourse to justice, rapacious war profiteering, have all been boons to the cause of terrorism.

People like Alecki from Greenville, SC ( Gore-acle post ) are one of the reasons why Senator Obama has had to have more Secret Service protection earlier than everyone else in this campaign. I think it's sad the amount/pecentage of people in this country that are led by ignorance and fear and are obviously not very intelligent. They would rather be lied to (WMDs in Iraq) and take part in an illegal/immoral war that has ruined our reputation around the world; wasted money and lives rather than vote for someone because they are afraid that that person MAY have lied about their military record (Kerry)or who MAY be a possible terrorist or racist (Obama) even though there is no concrete evidence to back this up except for some of the tangential associations these people have. They are again being brainwashed by the same people who keep lying and instilling fear into them through their attempts at character assasination every election cycle. If McCain wins in November (just like Bush did in 2004)it will be testimony to the fact that the percentage of ignorant/unintelligent people in the country is alot higher than we all imagined. Those Hillary supporters who want to go and vote for McCain now are either doing so out of bitterness becuse she lost (which is normal and goes away after a while) or are all closet racists and will continue to throw up weak excuses like Obama is inexperienced (both JFK and Clinton were younger presidents; JFK was just a senator as well) etc to mask this fact. Senator Obama has the same policy stances as Senator Clinton and went out of his way to be very respectful to her in last few months of the primary. The only times he fought back was when the attacks became unbearable ( e.g. the ABC debate, bitter-gate etc ).If they want to blame the media or the DNC I can understand that but it doesn't make sense to blame Obama. Come November if these Hillary supporters still want McCain we all know what was really in their hearts. They simply cannot respect the fact that a black man (or someone who appears to be too black in their view) has the abilty or right to lead this country.

Fascinating. When Bill Clinton was President and was parsing "is" and committing perjury, Republicans were rightly decrying his blatant disregard for the rule of law. And where were democrats? Defending him, of course. They claimed that his infractions were not really serious, just character flaws. But the rule of law has never been the same.

And now we have the Republican leadership showing contempt for the rule of law because it infringes on their desire to scare citizens about the dangers of Islamic terrorists. (Guess what, Repubs? Most of us get it already.) They have endorsed the use of torture, proclaimed the goodness of perpetual imprisonment without checks or balances, and a variety of other ideas which should brand them as un-American traitors. And what are everyday Republicans doing? The same the democrats did with Clinton--defending them.

The real problem here is not democrats or republicans. It's us. We defend our own wrongs and screech about the danger of the opposition. Shame on all of us.

I would rather live with some danger in a nation of laws than live without danger in a nation that holds the law in contempt.

Sorry, jerry, I don't agree.

It's called a "civil rights violation". You can't act like "common sense" will help us decide who is evil enough to waive due process. Common sense is objective. So how many people get killed before the person is "justifiably tortured"? Whaddya say: 7 adults and 2 children? 300 women and 1 infant?

The fact is that everyone deserves the right to speak for what they've done. Even if you're that crazy guy in the US who tortured that woman for 19 hours, you get a right to trial. Hammurabi may disagree, but whatever.

When will everyone get their heads out of their collective behinds and realize that we are dealing with a new world type order.  We live in a society where liberalism has created an every man or woman for himself mentality where through the courts, the needs or wants of the one, outweigh the rights and pretections of the many.  In every decision someone has to compromise because the majority has to be considered.  People who act based on any form of ideology rather than accepted law will never play by the rules if those rules do not favor them.  They then can count on the far left insisting that the rules are followed for them so that they can skate free or at least work the system without any form of punishment for years to come without any form of punishment for their actions.  Sometimes, the job just has to get done

wow...mccain freaks me out.  heck...even saddam got a fair trial in irag!!  duh mccain.  

Basically under my interpretation of the Supreme Court ruling, soldiers who capture UBL would need to read him his Miranda rights in Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, etc.  He'd have to have his lawyer present during any military questioning.  The CIA would need to get a warrant and follow evidence rules before searching for time sensitive info. regarding terrorist attacks/ other Al Qaeda bigwigs.  The U.S. would have to either risk declassifying evidence regarding intelligence methods and operatives or risk UBL going free.  Such an approach is unprecedented and ridiculous during a time of war and Team McCain is pointing out the obvious.

I'm also quite disturbed about the comment above concerning "several life sentences;" if there's a clear cut case for the death penalty, then it's definitely this one.. the people who callously slammed planes into buildings and vaporized three thousand Americans. A good tact for McCain and co. to expose how liberal the Messiah is would be to go after what punishment is appropriate.  Methinks that he might come of as to the left of 80+% of America

"Bill was more worried about Monica then he was about Bin Laden"  One more time with that false claim.  Clinton sent cruise missiles against the al Qaeda training camps and publicly warned that bin Laden was the biggest terrorist threat anywhere.  Republicans and talk show hosts everywhere belittled that pronouncement and opined that Clinton was only trying to distract attention from his affair with Lewinsky.  By now you should know, jerry, that EVERY time you claim the Clinton Administration ignored al Qaeda someone will point out the historical revisionism.

Our courts we're designed to work in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. It's anti-American to suggest otherwise.

Most of us feel the DNC stole the nominee from Hillary...giving a man votes from MI and his name wasn't even there to vote for....so to heck with the DNC, you have lost the faithful. - Luanne, TN
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They voted UNCOMITTED when Hillary's name was on the ballot.  And there were also about 30,000 write-ins. If they didn't vote for her when her name was right there, who do you think they were voting for??? Papa Smurf? Additionally, it was clearly known that even if full voting rights were given to Michigan and Florida (though they broke the rules) and Obama was not given uncommitted, he still would have been ahead in the delegate count.  That's how well he was doing! You can go ahead and vote for McCain whose policies and plans are in direct contrast with Hillary Clinton's and the rest of the Democratic party.

Giving a prisoner habeas corpus "rights" if of no concern so long as the government is not acting unlawfully.  Frivolous petitions (usual ones about food, bedding, etc.) are dismissed routinely and easily (and writing them up kept the prisoner occupied, too busy for getting into fights).  Legitimate petitions SHOULD be brought, even by Osama bin Laden, because for one to succeed, the government has to be violating its own laws.  Habeas corpus is more important as a check on abuses of power than it is a granting of any sort of individual right.  The only "right" it gives to someone in prison is an assurance that the government has to abide by the law ... just like he had to.  ------------  The right to habeas corpus is not granted by the Constitution; it is not contained in the Bill of Rights.  It is an ancient right recognized under English common law and incorporated into the main body of the Constitution (Art 1, section 9) as a LIMIT on Legislative power.  "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."  Granting persons held in Guantanamo (or anywhere else) the right to petition for habeas corpus does not pose a threat to public safety -- it only threatens government officials who want to be able to abuse their power.

This much we do know. Bush/McCain took us into a war of convenience and took the eye off the ball on Bin Laden.This group of incompetents never have caught the father of the attack, never put enough resources in Afganistan so we now have a resurgency of the Taliban. Instead we hold hands and kiss the cheeks of the Saudi's who fathered the 9/11 attackers. Mismanaged a war from day one and they have the audacity to comment on the stance of Obama.  Come on guys you are the ones who manipulated intelligence to get us into Iraq. By the way the Supreme Court decision was not the worst in history John McCain.  What about Dred Scott? or Plessey v. Furgeson?  We can not afford this type of incompetence and poor judgement for another FOUR years.    

The more I hear from the McCain campaign the more convinced I am McCain is an idiot.

For despite all good sense, they continue an all front effort to make Obama the problem, when the problem is the economy, the wars, wounded veterans, and the broken government that caused it all.

But it appears they are so very threatened by Obama, and so unimpressed with McCain, that the only way to make the latter better is by attacking the former.

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