Wednesday, June 9, 2010

U.S. Constitution and Terrorism

When the U.S. Constitution was written some two hundred or more years ago, there was no internet and no Terrorism, computer was not invented and the United States was a small country. But this new wave of terrorism along with increasing travel between countries and immigration has put a strain on the international laws which is trying to keep up with these new times.

The First constitution with its freedom of speech and religion and assemble peacefully and other amendments are under increasing stress to define its place in this new violent age. Although the U.S. Constitution has really stood the strains of time, but with terrorism, there is a new sort of confusion of how to apply it to terrorists’ subjects.

Some argue that since terrorists have threatened the lives of the citizens of the U.S. they should be tried in U.S. courts and dealt with according to the U.S. constitution and some say that since they are not U.S. citizens and we are at war (although a different kind) our laws and rules don’t apply to these non citizens. Nobody has clearly defined how to treat with these people, since the constitution is silent about this matter.
According to my analysis, since these people are not under any illusion that they are fighting a holy war without any laws, we should be dealing with them in the same manner, because to apply the Geneva Convention will be wrong because if some American is captured by terrorists, they will be dealt with according to the codes of the terrorists. Geneva Convention, I believe applies when both the warring parties are signatories to it. But since the terrorists don’t adhere to any laws, we should be free from using any civilized laws to deal with them.

No comments:

Post a Comment