“Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.???

-Thomas Jefferson

Every rampaging tyrant from Attila the Hun to Saddam Hussein arrogated to themselves certain imperial perquisites. These included the authority to summarily arraign their foes in kangaroo tribunals, banish them to concentration camps or firing squads, and marry their daughters.

Detaining opponents without trial is as much a core competence of dictators as surreptitious surveillance, fearmongering, jingoistic propaganda and witness intimidation. Many current Washington potenates have been avid acolytes of this nefarious creed.

The US Supreme Court however, has belatedly affirmed that that sort of thing is not what democracies should be getting up to. The central paradigm of democracy’s ideal is the equality of all citizens. To violate the rights of one is to desecrate the rights of all.

More trenchantly, this decision has put paid to the petty legalistic arguments about whether US Constitutional protections should extend to foreign captives. It was never a legal argument, but a moral one. How you treat a person at your mercy is an expression of your core values.

If Americans treat foreign detainees less humanely than citizen prisoners, it gives the lie to the principles that preceded, and should be enshrined in, its Constitutional guiding star. Principles applied discriminatingly are no principles at all.

El Hakeem
www.amusis.com