DDO LD Tournament: Due Process for Terrorists

I affirm the resolution. Definitions:Ought - indicates desirability. For example, if I say "I ought to clean up," I am saying that it would be a good thing--that it would be desirable--for me to clean up. Extend - to make avalible. For example, a bank extends credit to its customers. Accused - formally charged with a violation of the lawDue Process - the judicial protections being granted by and derived from the ConstitutionObservation One: RightsAccording to Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, "Rights are held as trumps to other practical considerations, which requires seeing them not as themselves simply grounded in the interests of the right-holder, but existing in virtue of more central considerations of the duties we owe each other. The basic lists that have been drawn up of human rights to be respected by any legitimate sovereign are similar, suggesting a common conception of the conditions necessary for societies that accord human beings their full dignity and respect. " We can take away from this explanation four things: (1) that a sovereign is not legitimate if it fails to respect human rights, (2) rights stem from duties to each other that we all have, (3) human rights are cross-cultural, and (4) rights are trumps against utilitarian concerns. I Value Justice, defined by Aristotle as giving each their due. Since all people are due their human rights, I offer the Criterion of Respcting Human Rights. A comprehensive list of human rights can be found in the UDHR, and in the subsequent, legally binding documents of the ICCPR and ICESCR. Contention One: The Rights of the AccusedSub-point A: Constitutional RightsProf. Afsheen J. Radsan. After analyzing the Supreme Court Cases of Boumediene and Matthews, he stated that "the Due Process Clause applies. .. to government action worldwide. This is consistent with the. .. text of the Fifth Amendment, which bars--without any express territorial limitation--the government from depriving any person of rights. .. without due process of law. .. " U. S Attorney Loretta Lynch concurs, noting, "in the area of civil liberties. .. the Constitution does not make distinctions based upon citizenship status, but guarantees certain basic rights to all "persons. " This reflects our view that the legal system must treat everyone equally. Certain basic rights, e. g. , due process, must be equally applied across the board for the integrity of the legal system as well as for the benefit of the individual. .. Even when national security is at stake, we must, provide for due process of law. .. "Sub-point B: Human Rights According to Emily Zechenter, a prominent Human Rights Lawyer, human rights "provide important protections for individuals who would otherwise be entirely at the mercy of the state or the group in power. These protections include such basic rights as the right to bodily integrity; the right to be free from torture and. .. abuse; the right to be free from arbitrary courts, imprisonment, police coercion, etc. " She goes on to note that "the modern system of international human rights treaties--which have been ratified by all nations--reflect these notions. "The ICCPR states in Article 2 that any State party to the agreement shall "undertake to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as. .. national or social origin. .. or other status. " In the same Article, the following right is extended: "any person claiming such a remedy shall have his right thereto determined by competent judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or by any other competent authority provided for by the legal system of the State, and to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy. " Finally, in Article 9, the ICCPR grants any arrested or detained persons full due process rights as well, and in Article 14 it states, "All persons shall be equal before the courts. " In Article 24, this is further emphasized by the statement, "All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. "The conclusion we can draw from this analysis is that there is a human right to equality before the law, regardless of nationality, and that this fact demands that the same due process rights be extended to non-citizens. Contention Two: Respecting rights promotes peace and national securitySub-point A: Detention centers where due process rights are derogated only serve to incite terrorism. According to Alberto Mora, former U. S. Navy Counsel-General, "the first and second identifiable causes of U. S. combat deaths in Iraq--as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat--are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Senior officers are convinced that the cause of Abu Ghraib was the legal advice authorizing abusive treatment of detainees that issued from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel in 2002. " Senior U. S. Airforce Terrorism Analyst Alexander Matthews, agrees, stating that, "the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq"at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U. S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy is close to the number of lives lost on 9/11. "Sub-point B: Violating the rights of accused terrorists doesn"t deter terrorism. According to Dr. Uri Fisher, "the deck is stacked against deterrence playing a significant role in U. S. counterterrorism policy because terrorists are highly motivated and therefore they are willing to risk anything--their lives in the case of suicide-bombers--to accomplish a goal. .. second, terrorists are difficult to locate. Terrorist networks operate transnationally and therefore make reprisals difficult. .. it remains undecided how deterrence can work against an enemy that understands that the ultimate policy goal of the U. S. is not to coexist with groups like al-Qaeda, but to eradicate them. "Sub-point C: Violating the rights of those accused undermines U. S. credibility, increases anti-Americanism, and alienates our allies. All of these problems hinder our ability to work with our allies to promote safety. Mora notes that, "allied nations reportedly hesitated to participate in combat operations if there was the possibility that individuals captured during the operation could be abused by the U. S. Allied nations have refused on occasion to train with us in joint detainee capture and handling operations because of concerns about U. S. detainee policies. And senior NATO officers in Afghanistan have been reported to have left the room when issues of detainee treatment have been raised by U. S. officials out of fear that they may become complicit in detainee abuse. International cooperation, including in the military, intelligence, and law enforcements arenas, diminished as foreign officials became concerned that assisting the U. S. in detainee matters could constitute aiding and abetting criminal conduct in their own countries. " Prof. David Cole claims that our rights violations have caused us to "forfeit the legitimacy of the struggle against terrorism, and make it less likely that we will obtain the cooperation we need from those countries, contributing to anti-American sentiment, which has never been higher than it is today. That cannot be good for our long-term interests, and it plays right into the hands of the terrorists' recruitment propaganda. "Sub-point D: We not only alienate our allies, but also demographic groups important to national security through rights violations. According to Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch, "detention also discourages citizens from cooperating with counterterrorist investigations, a crucial factor in uncovering terrorist plots. Counterterrorism experts report that information gleaned from interrogating detainees is far less important than information delivered by members of the general public who see something suspicious and report it"Because sympathy for the victims of abusive counterterrorism policies tends to be greatest in the communities that give rise to terrorists, policies such as preventive detention jeopardize this vitally important source of intelligence. " In conclusion, we can see that there are not only moral, but also pragmatic reasons to extend due process to non-citizens accused of terrorism. I would emphasize however, that the rights-based arguments in Contention one are sufficient to vote Aff in their own right. Thank you, and I urge a ballot in affirmation of the resolution. ---------Thank You!