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Not A Suicide Pact

It is all over the news, secret CIA prisons, tough interrogation tactics, and a showdown in Congress.

From USA Today:

On Wednesday, Bush announced that 14 “high-value detainees — including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — had been transferred from secret CIA prisons to the detention center at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“The sooner the Congress authorizes the military commission I have called for, the sooner (Mohammed) will receive the justice he deserves, the president said today.

From the New York Times:

President Bush urged Congress today to pass legislation that would give his administration the surveillance tools he said it needed to fight terrorism in a speech just days before the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

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From the Los Angeles Times:

Many civil libertarians say the system Bush initially proposed for trying terrorists, and the new legislation he released Wednesday, does not provide sufficient legal protection to the accused.

From the Chicago Tribune:

The president in effect said he had no choice. “We had to wage an unprecedented war against an enemy unlike any we had found before.”

And that is where Richard A. Posner comes in. Posner, author of PosnerNot a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency, looks at the constitutional issues which have arisen since 9/11. His book begins:

This is a book about the Constitutional Rights that impinge on the measures for the protection of national security the U.S. government has taken in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It is thus about the marginal adjustments in such rights that practical-minded judges make when the values

Posner’s book will be published in October. If you just can’t wait until then check out his podcast on Instapundit.

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