The Scoop: Life in prison without a trial
It’s my assumption — and I hate to make assumptions — that almost every American is against terrorism. Operating under that belief, I’m going to make a few blanket statements I don’t normally feel comfortable making, but I do so using the logic that most everyone is in agreement.
As Americans, we want to feel safe from terrorism. We want to feel safe in our homes. We want our children to feel safe at school. We want to fly commercial airlines without fear the plane will be blown up by terrorists. We want to shop at the supermarket without fear a suicide bomber will kill us at the check-out line.
That said, I have a real problem with U.S. plans to indefinitely imprison terrorism suspects who government officials don’t have enough evidence to take to court, but don’t want to set free either. The Pentagon and CIA have made a joint request to the White House to decide on a permanent way to detain these terrorism suspects for the rest of their lives.
I realize this war on terror is a serious matter, but jailing people for the rest of their lives — without a trial — goes against every principle on which this great nation was founded. It’s like taking a step back to the days when people got the guillotine for speaking out against the iron rule of the king.
Our founding fathers held the basic belief that people have the right to an abundance of freedoms. The most vital of those freedoms is freedom itself. Also right there at the top is the right to a fair trial.
If you combine those two rights, it means our government doesn’t arrest people, throw them in jail, and keep them there until they die just because high-ranking officials think they might be up to no good. As citizens of this country, and taxpayers, we should demand better of our government. We can wage an aggressive battle against terrorism without resorting to such tactics.
But human rights don’t seem to matter to Defense Department officials, who plan to ask Congress for $25 million to build a 200-bed prison to house suspects who will likely never see a courtroom due to lack of evidence, and who will likely never be released.
Perhaps the most remarkable part of this request is the Defense Department is pretending to be nice to these people by building them a facility that’s modeled after U.S. prisons. Department officials say inmates would have the luxury of somewhat private cells and common areas where they can socialize. Gee, maybe that will make them happier while they rot away behind bars without a trial.
I believe our government should take an extremely hard stand against terrorists. I don’t have a problem with sending them to jail for the rest of their lives. I don’t have a problem with executing them. But those feelings are based on the fact there’s some sort of proof of wrongdoing. It’s that little detail called evidence that’s important to the equation.
I have to wonder exactly how much damaging information CIA officials could really have against a suspect if it’s not even enough to take them to court. If the CIA doesn’t stand a chance of getting a guilty verdict, there can’t be enough concern to incarcerate them until they die. It doesn’t make sense.
The CIA is believed to be holding between 30 and 40 terror suspects, although little is known about those captives and the conditions on which they are being kept. This has prompted criticism by some members of Congress, although there has been no congressional hearings on CIA detention practices.
Perhaps the most bothersome aspect of the CIA’s desire for lifetime detention without a trial is the thought it might one day encompass other suspected crimes. If U.S. citizens are willing to accept such treatment for suspected terrorists, it’s only a matter of time before our right to a fair trial begins to fade away for other offenses.
James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].