Who Is Our Enemy? -- Will Cain, CNN Contributor, and Andrew C. McCarthy, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Will Cain is a CNN contributor and co-host of Real News at The Blaze. Andrew C. McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, is a contributor to National Review and author of "Willful Blindness: Memoir of the Jihad." The following is an e-mail exchange/debate between Cain and McCarthy.
(CNN) -- Will Cain: Andy, who are we fighting in the war on terror? I don't mean to turn this into a freshman Political Science 101 question, but this is a pretty important issue. The answer to that question should protect us not only from terrorists, but also from the government depriving us of constitutional rights.
Sens. Lindsay Graham, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte and Rep. Peter King are all raising hell over the fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev -- one the of suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing -- wasn't designated an "enemy combatant" and held in military detention for interrogation. But I see nothing in the Authorization for Use of Military Force or the National Defense Authorization Act that takes away rights afforded to citizens (Dzhokhar is a U.S. citizen) by the Constitution.
Do you disagree?
Read more ....
My Comment: Over the years I have lost count on how many times different governments (and their institutions) told me that "our country" had "enemies" out there .... and that we had to do something about it. Being one who lived in the former Soviet Union and who now lives in North America .... there is/was always an enemy .... and there is/was always a course of action to fight them. I guess this is a part of the human condition .... people in power need adversaries to not only justify their status and positions .... but to also give credence to their policies.
So who is our enemy?
I guess the answer depends on where you are coming from ... and that is where the conflict comes about. From my perspective a person like Osama Bin Laden is a monster who made a pact with the Devil .... but to millions of others he is a saint.
1 comment:
I agree with you. I do note that conservatives want just about any caught bad guy treated as enemy combatant, citizen or not; and liberals want not military but our regular courts to deal with citizens.
Post a Comment