“Those who join such groups join our enemy and should be deprived of the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship,” Lieberman said at a Washington news conference today.
The proposal would broaden the existing law to include joining or working with extremist groups designated by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations. Citizens would have the right to appeal.
In the House, Republican Charlie Dent and Democrat Jason Altmire, both of Pennsylvania, are proposing similar legislation.
Notice how he refers to your NATURAL RIGHTS as “privileges of U.S. citizenship?”
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) thinks he’s found a work-around on the whole Miranda rights debate for U.S. citizens accused of terrorism: Strip their citizenship and ship them to Guantanamo.
“If you have joined an enemy of the United States in attacking the United States and trying to kill Americans, I think you sacrifice your rights of citizenship,” Lieberman said.
“My feeling is that if they [HIG] make a judgment that this was a terrorist act, the person should be turned over to the military,” Lieberman said.
That’s not allowed under current law if the suspect is an American citizen, because U.S. citizens cannot be tried in military commissions. The 2006 law that outlines guidelines for the commissions authorizes them only for “alien unprivileged enemy belligerent[s].”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said reading Shahzad his rights was a “serious mistake.”
“I certainly would not read this individual his Miranda rights. I would not do that,” he said.
“What I was talking about was that we don’t have to Mirandize someone immediately. You don’t — before you charge them, there’s time that elapses,” McCain later clarified to POLITICO.
1 Comment
Mark · May 7, 2010 at 10:29 pm
We're not there yet, not as long as the military takes their Oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.
Comments are closed.