R torture, renditions, Guantanomo, the PatriotActs contradictions to Constitutional principles& moral beliefs?

Question

Fully worded Q :Are torture, renditions, Guantanomo, the Patriot Acts contradictions to our Constitutional principles& moral beliefs?

"Safety and security for the American people trump moral beliefs" See my Q on your position.

Why so few A's?

Answer 1

Yes, it's nicely laid out here in this recent issue of Harper's (see links, attribution -
http://pokerpulse.com/news/posting.php?mode=editpost&p=2856):

For a short parlor game, challenge your friends to name a constitutional right that Bush has not sought to undermine. After the right to bear arms and the guarantee against the quartering of soldiers, the game will be over. Those who prefer a longer game can reverse the exercise, but be prepared for an extended and dispiriting evening.

...The Fifth Amendment right to due process, meanwhile, has fallen victim to assertions that "enemy combatants" can be held indefinitely without trial, that suspicious organizations can have their assets frozen without notice or hearings, and that military tribunals can sentence defendants to death on the basis of hearsay and coerced testimony. For the administration, secrecy trumps all legal process; it has claimed that lawsuits challenging unconstitutional renditions to torture and warrantless wiretapping cannot even be adjudicated because the government's allegedly unconstitutional conduct is itself a secret, even when the facts in question have already been emblazoned across the pages of the country's newspapers.

...The first and most important step toward restoration of constitutional principle, then, will be the next election. If the public does not demand fidelity to our founding principles, our representatives will not do so on their own.

The remaining steps are straightforward. The next administration could start by proclaiming - loudly - that in wartime, as in peacetime, the American system of government includes tree branches, and the president's first job is to take care that the law is faithfully executed. Second, Guantanamo must be shut down and the prisoners there brought within our borders. When Defense Secretary Robert Graves suggested just that, the administration's lawyers objected that they would lose their argument that because the detainees are held offshore, they are unprotected by the Constitution. But the argument that Guantanamo is a "law-free zone" is precisely why that island has become a world symbol for U.S. arrogance and lawlessness - a "reverse Statue of Liberty," as some have called it. ((From 1. The Constitution by David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, at pgs. 44-45)

Answer 2

Yes. And once you have enacted contradictions to the Constitution, you have destroyed the principles of the United States. There is no more freedom, just a presidential dictatorship.

Hopefully, the pendulum will swing back to what the US stands for.

Answer 3

What is going on at Guantanamo is NOT torture. The portions of the patriot act most people get upset about-were already codified in the RICO act, extending the group from organized crime to terrorists was both a logical and reasonable extension. I don't feel sorry in the least for Al Queda imprisoned in Guantanamo--they deserve whatever they get.

Answer 4

Rules of engagement in wartime,have a different set or rules called the Geneva convention and may not directly line up with the Constitution because the rules of war were combined of many nations.

Answer 5

Safety and security for the American people trump moral beliefs.

Answer 6

Well now, let me see.......um.......hmmmmmm........why yes, yes they are. Thank you for asking someone be coming to your home to arrest you soon. See I told you they would figure it out sooner or later.........Oh shut up.