He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

Thomas Paine
US patriot & political philosopher (1737 - 1809)

As an immigrant and a naturalized American, I am pleased to find myself in this superior country; to see that the three branches of US government check each other; how unlike Venezuela under Hugo Chavez or Pakistan under Pervez Musharraf! How wonderful that we have term limits for the presidency, so unlike Cuba under Fidel Castro! How reassuring that our court system is designed to be transparent, that we are protected from extrajudicial action, unlike those poor sods in Colombia who met the Death Squad in the night.

All these things make us a great nation, a great nation of laws, where people have rights. For all these reasons I am pleased with last Thursday's SCOTUS ruling on habeas corpus. The dissenting justices (SCOTUS decision was 5-4 split) may believe that foreign citizens do not have the same legal rights as American citizens; how about those prisoners who are Canadian citizens? British citizens? Were it wrong to indefinitely detain a Canadian who is accused (but not charged) with rape-murder, were it not wrong to do same with him when accused but not charged with terrorism? And if so, does that extend to Afghans or Pakistanis? If not, why not?

The designation of "enemy combatants" allows our government to detain people indefinitely.  No charge, no trial. Kind of like how Communist China treats its dissidents (believe me, I know about this).  Kind of like how Communist USSR used its gulags. Aren't we better? Shouldn't we be? Habeas corpus is a foreign (literally) concept to dictators like Robert Mugabe or Idi Amin; it should not be foreign to our nation of laws. Violation of habeas corpus has the power to negate every other right; its exercise or suspension need to be watched more carefully than ever before.  We already have warrant-less wiretapping in place; and to those who say that if you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear, some Chinese political prisoners who disappeared in the night would like a word with you. Except, they can't, 'cause they've disappeared.

The prisoners are suspected of, not charged with, terrorism. Our government do not recognize them as prisoners of war, and therefore exempt ourselves from the Geneva Convention; they are also not suspected criminals, exempting them from US law.  It's pat and convenient, but it creates a logical and moral hazard to deny prisoners habeas corpus on a whim. The fact that they are Muslim males do not make them guilty; if it were so, then every white disaffected Christian male in Oklahoma with a bad haircut should be locked up indefinitely with no appeal nor representation, on the grounds that they'd all want to bomb federal buildings a la McVeigh.

But of course we wouldn't do that - it would be illegal.