It looks obvious

To facilitate bringing to justice terrorists and other
unlawful enemy combatants through full and
fair trials by military commissions, and for
other purposes.

the Military Commissions Act of 2006

When the administration argued that fighting Terrorism isn’t the same as fighting criminals I was on board. I accepted the argument that it isn’t like arresting a Mafia member but similar to fighting the Viet-Kong, or any other enemy combatant. I was even online with Alen Darshowitz’s arguments that we are facing new type of warfare and that the international law need revision to accommodate the new challenges exploited by terrorists.

However, when assuming that Terrorist are not criminals and applying war behavior to defeat them we cannot attempt to bring them to justice. Moreover, if we decide that Terrorism is after all a crime - we should adjust our methods and means to fight very sophisticated crime organization. But in no case should we agree that in order to bring someone to justice we can override the constitution . The habeas corpus is a basic right that allowing the government to ignore it is simply to dangerous.

I completely in agreement with the ACLU’s concerns as expressed here:

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union expressed distress as the Senate adopted S.3930, the Military Commissions Act of 2006. That bill is identical to legislation adopted by the House yesterday, and removes important checks on the president by: failing to protect due process, eliminating habeas corpus for many detainees, undermining enforcement of the Geneva Conventions, and giving a “get out of jail free card” to senior officials who authorized or ordered illegal torture and abuse.

“This legislation gives the president new unchecked powers to detain, abuse, and try people at Guantanamo Bay and other government facilities around the world,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Unfortunately for America, the Senate chose not to deliberate today. Instead, it joined the House and President Bush in jamming through a hastily written bill before running home to try to campaign.”

The pattern of increasing the power executed by the executive branch, destroying the checks and balances - is a real threat to liberty. I said that before and I will say it again - we need to make sure that when we win the fight against terrorist we didn’t destroy the same liberties we attempted to protect. The choice isn’t between Islamic tyranny to Christian tyranny and but between tyranny and liberty.

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