IF IT'S WAR YOU WANT

The Obama Administration's decision to try the Gitmo detainees in American civilian criminal courts raises anew the spectre of the exclusionary rule...only this time its foreboding shadow threatens to impale civilization's ability to defend itself.

The exclusionary rule blocks the introduction into a trial of any evidence that was obtained by authorities in violation of Constititionally-protected rights...including the right to counsel, the right against unlawful searches and seizures, the right against cruel and inhuman treatment, the right to a speedy trial. the right to be Mirandized and advised of your rights. All of which were apparently violated with regard to the detainees, and that fact will no doubt be raised by the detainees' counsel in motions to exclude confessions and damaging evidence and to have the confessed ringleader of the 9-11 attack, and his cohorts, be set free in the name of...justice!

And so a court may feel reluctantly compelled to rule...to the endangerment of our country, our people, our way of life, our future.

The principal argument in favor of the exclusionary rule in civilian criminal matters is that it, hopefully, will dissuade the authorities from violating our Constitutional rights. The wisdom of that reasoning is questionable. If the authorities have evidence, no matter how obtained, that will help them obtain a conviction and remove a danger from our streets, why should those facts of reality be ignored? Could it possibly be in our interest to do so? Policemen and others who obtain evidence via unlawful searches or seizures, or otherwise, ought be severely punished, even discharged...but facts are facts and ignoring reality is a fool's path.

Here are some additional facts:

1. The Gitmo detainees are not American citizens.

2. Our Constitutional rights do not apply to them.

3. They are not criminals, but warriors engaged in wardare.

4. Civilized nations established the Geneva Convention to regulate waefare. Neither the Gitmo detainees nor their leaders signed to be bound by the Convention...nor are they entitled to its protections.

5. The right venue for warmongers is the military court and the right time is after the war has ended...so as not to to remove personnel from their war duties, so as not to have to reveal our secret operations and sources, so as not to divert our attention from the war at hand.

The argument that our not giving the detainees our Constitutional rights "lowers us to their level", is untrue and absurd. They INITIATED warfare against us, we are DEFENDING against that warfare, for our survival...and the difference between the two is the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, life and death.

The message we ought send the world is this: Attack us, terrorize us, seek to destroy us, and we will fight you not on your level but at levels you cannot imagine...not with one hand tied behind our backs, not with protocols or restraints, but by unleashing the full unrestrained might at our command. You do not set the terms of our battle, our survival does!