Regarding Indefinite Administrative Detention Essay example -- Politic

Regarding Indefinite Administrative Detention Blind patriotism and resounding public support of President Bush’s ‘War’ on terrorism after the events of September 11 th have allowed considerable leeway to be taken by the Federal Government in terms of indefinite detention of non-U.S. citizens in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But all the flag waving seems to have helped a lot of people dismiss the idea that, even though the detainees taken from Afghanistan in the past year are not U.S. citizens, they remain innocent until proven guilty according to American legal principles. One might ask: ‘if the suspects haven’t been proven guilty in court (or the remarkably prosecutor-friendly military tribunals), how can they be, for all intents and purposes, imprisoned while innocent (without violating numerous constitutional, statutory, and international laws)?’ The answer is that, because the detainees have NOT been charged with any crime, they are held as enemy combatants. Once deemed a threat to national security by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, they are subject to the restrictions of Wartime Internment: â€Å"according to the Geneva Conventions, captured combatants may be detained without charges until the end of active hostilities.†(Mariner) The procedural laws governing detention of aliens lie in a complex net of statutes declaring the rights of the government to detain aliens under different situations. When Donald Rumsfeld says that the end of active hostilities will come â€Å"when we feel that there are not effective global terrorist networks functioning in the world† (Mariner), the importance of looking at exactly what the Supreme Court has to say about detention regulations becomes increasingly clear: indefinite detention could v... ...tizens as a fair, just, and prudent tactic to serve the goal of winning a seemingly impossible, rhetorical war.(Mariner) But while the moral issues revolving around preventative administrative detention remain, the court in fact resolved Zadvydas in an ethically sound, legally justifiable manner. WORKS CITED Carter, Lief. 2002. Reason In Law: Sixth Edition. New York, NY: Longman. Mariner, Joanne. May 28, 2002. Indefinite Detention On Guantanamo. Retrieved October 19, 2002, from http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/mariner/20020528.html Ramasastry, Anita. Oct. 5, 2001. Indefinite Detention Based Upon Suspicion: How The Patriot Act Will Disrupt Many Lawful Immigrants’ Lives. Retrieved October 19, 2002, from http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20011005.html Zadvydas v. Davis, et al. U.S. Supreme Court. Argued, Feb. 21, 2001. Decided, June 28, 2001.