[lit-ideas] Re: Waterboarding Bodies Mattered
- From: Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:57:59 +0700
Omar Kusturica wrote:
"We are providing legal stipulations for torture (no less) of persons
who are *not* US citizens, and some of whom (e.g. Khalid Mohammad)
were not even detained on US soil, yet we presume to do this "in terms
of the U.S. legal system, the U.S. constitution and the rights of U.S.
citizens.'"
Not quite. I provided a link to an article that discussed how one
U.S. official responded to the constitutionality of the legal opinions
being offered to support torture. Since this was a U.S. official
discussing opinions being offered by other U.S. officials in the
context of U.S. law, I am not sure what other terms ought to be used
other than the U.S. legal system, the U.S. constitution and the rights
of U.S. citizens. If Omar wants to discuss how this fits into
international agreements or U.N. declarations, he is free to do so,
but that would be a different discussion.
Omar continues:
"On the next turn, we yet do not wish to apply the same legal
framework to these persons that we would to US citizens, but apply
different stipulations to them. This seems like a globalization of the
US legal system, but with one set of laws for US citizens and another
for those who are not."
The implication of the argument of the article, as I understand it, is
that since the U.S. constitution does not allow for discrimination
within the legal system, what would be justifiable for the U.S.
government to do to a non-citizen must also be justifiable in the case
of the citizen. This is a statement solely concerning what happens
within the U.S. legal system and has nothing to do with globalization.
Omar:
"I find it objectionable to think that I might legally be detained in
Pakistan, and legally taken to the US to be legally tortured by
waterboarding, all this provided for by the legal system of a country
that is not my own, and which would not apply the same provisions to
its own citizens. You have no problem with this?"
I have no problems with Omar being accorded the same treatment within
the U.S. legal system as any other U.S. citizen, which is the issue of
the article I linked to earlier.
Sincerely,
Phil Enns
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
