From The Road
June 13, 2008 6:42 PM

McCain Rips Supreme Court Decision on Guantanamo

By
John Bentley
Topics
John McCain
(CBS)

From CBS News' John Bentley:


PEMBERTON, N.J. -- Calling it "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country," John McCain ripped into the Supreme Court's decision to allow Guantanamo detainees access to civilian trials for the second day in a row. "We're now going to have the courts flooded with so-called "habeas corpus suits" against the government, whether it be about the diet, whether it be about the reading material," McCain said. "Our first obligation is the safety and security of this nation and the men and women who defend it. This decision will harm our ability to do that."

The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 yesterday that enemy combatants can challenge their detention at Guantanamo Bay in U.S. courts, instead of military tribunals. It was a decision welcomed by McCain's rival. "The Court's decision is a rejection of the Bush Administration's attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantanamo - yet another failed policy supported by John McCain," Barack Obama said. "This is an important step toward reestablishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus."

At a town hall meeting here today, McCain sought to use Obama's embrace of the decision against him. "Sen. Obama applauds this decision and he supports it," McCain said. "I argue against it and will do what I can to at least narrow down some of the wide open aspects of this Supreme Court decision."

McCain was joined in the condemnation of the decision by one of his supporters who joined him on the campaign trail today, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Graham, who worked with McCain on Guantanamo Bay legislation and is also an attorney for the U.S. Air Force, worried that detainees would seek out judges he felt were unqualified to make decisions on their cases. "Americans are going to be shocked to find the mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, now has the same legal standing as an American citizen," Graham said. "What does this mean to America? It means we're not as safe as we used to be, because now, the decision as to who an enemy combatant is, is not going to be made by military personnel tribunals, trained in the matters of warfare, but that decision will be made by the most liberal judges the detainees can find, in the most liberal jurisdictions with no standards, and some of these people are going to be let go simply because they found the right judge with absolutely no criteria as to how to release."

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by Republicae June 14, 2008 8:22 PM EDT
I have no respect for McCain anymore than I have for Obama however, I honestly think that at the very least Obama will end this ridiculous, ill-planned, ill-executed and unsuccessful attempt at a war.

If you read what Bush and many of his hand-picked military leaders are saying you will find the same words, almost word for word, given back during the Johnson Administration concern Vietnam. They are simply regurgitating the same claims those so-called military experts shouted about the Vietnam War.
McCain doesn''t know one *** thing about war, just listen to what he was claiming when the war was starting, he said it would be a quick and clean operation, that we would not see Americans coming home in body bags. How can anyone, with an iota of common sense, believe that he has a grasp of either foreign or even domestic issues?
Even though he is suppose to be a big history buff, he certainly hasn''t shown that he understands the lessons of history. He will be, as President, as lost and confounded as Bush has been. While I think that Obama will not be particularly good for the country, I think McCain will be yet another disaster.
I don''t plan on voting for either of them!
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by igorpdx June 14, 2008 8:11 PM EDT
McCain offers a frightening extension of the Bush refusal to follow the basic tenets of our Constitution.
Apparently he flunked the American civics course which is offered at the Naval Academy.

John McCain%u2019s ideas are grounded in the nightmare of his six year Viet-Nam pow experience, which he continues to relive today, as evidenenced by his confusion of what is happening in Iraq.

Just ask him and he will tell you that even though we lost over 58,000 brave American military, suffered an estimated 300,000 additional casualtiies, and despite killing over 2,000,000 Vietnamese in the process, that we could have %u201Cwon%u201D in that tiny southeast Asian country ( which by the way, was no threat to the United States,) if we had just stayed another few years. It was called %u201D The light at the end of the tunnel.%u201D A light that never happened.

John McCain is living in the past and cannot possibly lead our country out of the problems that the disastrous Bush administration has created. I perceive him as a very angry, stubborn person who would be better off retiring to his wife%u2019s luxurious ranch and tending to their barbecue.

We can%u2019t risk the Supreme Court Justices that he is sure to appoint, and we also can%u2019t afford his plans of continuing the failed policies of George Bush

A Viet-Nam veteran U.S. Air Force 1963-1968.
Reply to this comment
by Republicae June 14, 2008 3:19 PM EDT
"Illegal Enemy Combatants" captured in a Constitutionally Illegal War that the American People and Congress were suckered into supporting. Such irony!

If the American People don''t understand the importance of the Writ of Habeas Corpus to our own Liberty then we probably don''t understand the false sense of security that the Military Commission Act gives either.

"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."~Patrick Henry
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by Republicae June 14, 2008 3:02 PM EDT
It is indeed a sad day in America when a President, when Senators and Representatives, when many people in general have lost all concept of why the Constitution was created in the first place or why the Writ of Habeas Corpus has always been considered one of the foundational rights of a free people. Habeas Corpus is intended to protect the innocent from unjust treatment more than the protect the guilty from prosecution. The courts and a jury are the place to prosecute those who are guilty, not some ultra-secretive military tribunal. If the Law of this Land can be manipulated, as it has been, by the government to suit a particular agenda, whether conservative or liberal, Republican or Democratic, then it can be manipulated for any purpose whatsoever including in ways that distort or deny the rights of very American citizen. The Law of the Land is either consistently applied or it is not the Law of the Land, it either applies to everyone under our legal control or it doesn''t.
As a life-long and very Old Right Republican, I welcome this decision from the Court, it seems to have come back to a small, very small degree of Constitutional Common Sense.
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by scubadiver4u June 14, 2008 2:44 PM EDT
People, like McCain, who oppose the Supreme Court''s decision don''t understand that the original intent of the constitution is to restrain government and to preserve liberty of the people. The detainees at Guantanamo are criminal suspects, not prisoners of war. The U.S. criminal code defines terrorism as a criminal act, not an act of war. The military has no jurisdiction to try civilians (Al Qaeda thugs) in a military court. The proper jurisdiction is a civilian court. If the suspects are considered dangerous or a flight risk, they can still be held incarcerated without bail until their trial. If this was a legitimate war (fighting another government) the prisoners would be held in custody until the end of the war and then repatriated. The "war" on terrorism is just more phony government propaganda.
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by soldierboy37 June 14, 2008 10:20 AM EDT
It is a sad, sad day in America when enemy combatants, not American citizens, have the rights of American citizens. Its just sickening when the person that planned 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, now has the same legal rights as an American citizen. Just as sickening are the Leftists in America that will defend this guys right to have American legal protections. All the while the only thing Al Qaeda would extend to the very same people that defend this dirt bags is the blade of a knife as its sawing through their throats.
Good job Supreme Court. Way to win one for the home team!!
Reply to this comment
by KYJurisDoctor June 14, 2008 3:39 AM EDT
While I AGREE with today''s majority opinion that "all enemy combatants detained during a war, at least insofar as they are confined in an area away from the battlefield, [but] over which the United States exercises ''absolute and indefinite'' control, may seek a writ of habeas corpus in federal court," I also AGREE with Chief Justice Roberts (and his fellow dissenters) that the Writ can be suspended in time of war, such as the war on terror that we find ourselves involved in right now, and that suspension power belongs to Congress, such as Congress has exercised in this case, "as the Constitution surely allows Congress to [wield]."

I guess one can REASONABLY conclude that the Court''s Majority knew where they wanted to end up, and proceeded to get there, however s-l-o-w-l-y they weaved their way through precedential minefield!

OsiSpeaks.com
Reply to this comment
by wardoglrs June 14, 2008 3:28 AM EDT
This is from the straight talk express. First he was against it and now hes throwing a fit?.
Straight talk or doulble talk?
Reply to this comment
by tiredofthebs June 14, 2008 2:45 AM EDT
The law is the law Sen. McCain. We can''t conveniently bend it to suit us. Holding prisoners without due process is WRONG ..... regardless of what they might be accused of.
Reply to this comment
by fleura-2009 June 14, 2008 2:37 AM EDT
I believe Barack Obama should win because he can lead. Obama 2008!
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