The first speaker I chose was Joseph T. Barnes, a brigadier general, under the civil power versus military power segment. Barnes talks about in a time of war, people being taken off streets without seeing their lawyers, and put onto a military base for trials and such. He is very uncomfortable to see civil power over military power slipping away. He asks “Is this war or a crime?” I agree with him and am wondering if this sort of thing is totally wrong and immoral. I believe that if you are not in the act of war (aka fighting in a war), if captured for doing something illegal, you should go to a state and tried under civil law and not military power. One major subject that is a negative aspect for the people being transported to a military base is that the military is much harsher than civil power.
Derek Smith, the ceo of a company called Choice Point, was the next person I focused on from the segment “Intelligence gathering and Civil Liberties”. In this piece, he talked about how starting knowledge has to include probable cause. Part of his job is to make lists of people on airplanes and extend to relationships of people and the background info. For example, during the 9-11 trade center bombings, he started with 2 people on his list of terrorists and with his background info and looking into relationships; his list grew to all 19 people who participated. I love his job and what he does. This is so very important and I am glad someone is doing it. The restrictions on civil liberties for this man and what he is doing is only good and helpful. Yes, he is looking into people flying on planes and into your relationships with people, but can this really be hurtful?
Viet D. Dinh, a former attorney general talks about a 6th generation Lebanese American named Narrir who was pulled out of line at an airport once back in the United States coming from Europe because he has a high interest in Islamic movements. Authorities detained him out of suspicion “to diminish the risk of taking any catastrophic harm”. They can investigate and question but they cannot arrest him for anything. Under the U.S. law, he cannot get a lawyer while this is happening and Eric Holder and I think he should definitely be able to have one. This is definitely a civil liberty that has the wrong affect in this situation. Maybe some civil liberties go too far restricting?
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