Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
>
> > > I mean, would *you* want to visit a European state where the
> > > government had passed regulations saying that basically you
> > > relinquished all rights to due process of law by entering their
> > > borders, and if they felt like it they could have you arrested,
> > > tried by a military tribunal, and executed on the spot with no
> > > appeal?
>
> > If I were attempting to overthrow that government or even merely trying
> > to engage in a propaganda war to destroy the hypothetical high trust
> > society of that hypothetical european country, I would expect such
> > measures as a matter of course. My revolutionary cabal's plans may even
> > *require* that such measures be enacted, on the theory that they would
> > engender mistrust and resentment enough to engender further support from
> > the "useful idiots" in that part of the local intelligentsia who engage
> > in arguments of moral equivilancy in order to shround their lack of
> > responsibility as citizens.
>
> Sorry, Mike, but when trials are closed, it's too easy to accuse
> anyone of being anything, whether they are or not. PUBLIC trials
> for all offenses are a fundamental human right everywhere, under
> all conditions, without exception. Anyone who proposes closed
> trials for any reason is an enemy of freedom and justice.
Ah, public trials for all offenses, provided the accused agrees to
surrender for trial with no caveats. If someone refuses to be captured
and remains a threat, how far should others risk their lives just so
they can have their trial whether they want it or not?
>
> There are certainly some aspects of the American judicial system
> that can be changed: jury selection, rules of evidence, many
> procedural details. But openness isn't one of them: if anything,
> American trials should be _more_ open: ALL of them, including
> those for suspected foreign terrorists.
Ah, so you think that jury members identities should be public knowledge
for terrorism trials? How naive.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat May 11 2002 - 17:44:22 MDT