The Southern Independence Party of Texas

Legal Confusion Being Sown By Liberals
Washington Legal Community in Disarray

Federation of States, January 24, 2002 - The idiotic idea that foreigners who attack our forces and installations overseas are somehow entitled to be protected by the United States Constitution is really a stretch of sanity. Non-citizen aliens who are in the United States on visas are entitled to our Constitutional protections as a comity offered by the Executive Branch (Immigration) to visitors. However, there is no excuse other than liberal appeasement for illegal aliens in our country to be given the same constitutional rights as American citizens or legal aliens.

And certainly, people in other lands are not entitled to anything in our Constitution. They have their own laws and their own constitutions.

The mistaken concept that soldiers of the Taliban Regime are:

Clearly, United States Courts have no jurisdiction outside of the United States or its territories. Afghanistan is not a territory of the United States. Even the leased U.S. Department of Defense Naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba is not a U.S. Territory, but a lease contract allowing the U.S. Navy to use the base for military purposes. This lease for the base does not even rise to the level of an Embassy, which could be considered U.S. Territory.

Jurisdiction at Camp X-ray clearly lies with the Department of Defense because it houses captured enemy combatants for wartime detention. Neither the Department of Justice nor the U.S. Court system has any jurisdiction whatsoever at this military base in Cuba.

Finally, capturing fighters or soldiers in a foreign land and transporting them to the United States does not miraculously give the Department of Justice and the U.S. Courts jurisdiction over them. Jurisdiction remains with the capturing army and the Department of Defense.

If, as in the John Walker case, a captured enemy soldier turns out to be an American citizen, the matter becomes a little more fuzzy. If a U.S. citizen had been captured in civilian cloths in the United States, but was clearly working for the enemy in time of war, he could be classified as a spy and a traitor and would likely be executed. If a foreigner were captured in civilian cloths in the United States who was proven to be knowingly working for the enemy in time of war the foreigner would be classified as a spy and would likely be executed. If there were those found to be spies operating in the United States during time of war, those would likely be tried by the Department of Justice and perhaps be executed as spies. But, if there had been enemy soldiers in the uniform of the enemy country that was at war with the United States when they were captured in the United States, they could not be classified as spies, but the American among them would be tried in U. S. Courts for treason.

However, John Walker was an enemy soldier captured in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance who was also fighting the Taliban government. The charge of treason in U.S. Courts fails for lack of jurisdiction. Additionally, the evidence shows that Walker joined with these unsavory Taliban/al Qaida groups well before 9-11 and evidence is scarce that he had any control over such events that later unfolded including the armed combat against United States forces.

Now, under the articles of war, the United States military has jurisdiction over the territory and population it conquers and controls during war and therefore may try enemy soldiers as well as enemy officials for war crimes in the conquered territory or elsewhere under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense. The Department of Justice may not be able to try John Walker for treason, but the Department of Defense can and should hold a Military Tribunal to establish the facts that Walker joined and fought in the enemy army that was fighting the United States and that he was aware of the September 11 attack that was unleashed upon America. That is adequate grounds from stripping the U.S. Citizenship away from John Walker. Such a Tribunal could then refer the case to the Department of Immigration who would strip the U.S. citizenship away from John Walker and then permanently deport him to Afghanistan where he might be tried as a member of al Qaida by Afghanistani Courts. That is the legal way of handling the Walker case.

It is a grave error for the Bush administration to allow the Department of Justice to try Walker for his crimes committed in another country. This establishes the precedence that the U. S. Department of Justice and the U. S. Courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed by Americans in any country in the world. We ask the United States how they think the U. S. Courts have jurisdiction over an American, John Walker, captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan? There is no argument that the U.S. Military in Afghanistan has jurisdiction over captured enemy troops in Afghanistan as part of the conquering military and thus the U.S. Department of Defense has jurisdiction over Walker, but by what process does this jurisdiction transfer to the Justice Department and/or the U.S. Courts? Do we see evidence of the establishment of the EMPIRE OF THE UNITED STATES over other countries of the world?

In the case of the British citizens who were captured fighting for the Taliban, those should be turned over to the British Military who was an ally of the United States in the Afghanistani war and they also have battlefield jurisdiction as does our military. If the British request detention of those three British citizens in the U.S. Military Detention camp in Guantanamo, Cuba, then that is another matter. They still would be under the Jurisdiction of the British military.

The question of whether the Taliban fighters should be considered soldiers of a nation or simply unlawful combatants is open to interpretation of the Geneva Convention statutes and world pressure. Either way, they are entitled to humane treatment during detention by the United States which they are receiving and which exceeds the requirements of the Geneva Convention. Legal provisions exist to allow the International Red Cross to investigate the conditions of detention at Camp X-ray and report this to the international community. This is being done at the present. But, these enemy detainees are not entitled to the rights of the U.S. Constitution under any law or convention. Instead, the captured and detained enemy fighters and officials should be questioned and those where evidence supports charges of war crimes, the United States Department of Defense should try such by the U.S. Military Tribunals and/ or perhaps by a Nuremberg type Tribunal in the Hague. Again, U.S. Courts have no jurisdiction in such foreign cases during wartime.

As for bleeding heart liberals from other countries as well as here in the United States including various Human Rights groups who are raising the issue that we are not treating the captured Taliban/al Qaida fighters as well as they think we should comes very close (in a time of continuing war against terrorism) to their harboring our enemies, and offering them aid and comfort, a Constitutional definition of treason for those within the United States. And as for such foreign liberals who are espousing this filth against us in favor of these captured enemy troops, why should we not investigate them for harboring and comforting our enemies and perhaps take steps to cut off their funds as we do the al Qaida?