A Nation of Laws

Today's New York Times reports that the Federal Government is settling with one of the individuals who was detained without charges for several months following 9/11. The United States is paying $300,000 to settle the charges of false imprisonment in violation of the US Constitution.

Notably, this case involved an individual who is not a US Citizen. He was cleared of charges of terrorism, but was deported anyway.

According to the New York Times, the federal judge, John Gleeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, wrote in his decision last September, "Our nation's unique and complex law enforcement and security challenges in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks do not warrant the elimination of remedies for the constitutional violations alleged here."

It is interesting to see the Bush Administration attempting to quietly settle these cases after claiming for years that it has acted within the Constitution. It is just another example of the Bush Administration saying one thing and doing another - e.g., saying "we don't torture" while condoining it in Abu Graib and Guantanimo and sending prisoners to other countries that aren't so sqeamish.

Why is it that the Bush Administration can't seem to get the fact that to hold ourselves out as the shining light for the world to emulate, we have to practice what we preach? We have to do it all the time in all that we do. We can't say we are a nation of laws, but ignore them when it is inconvenient.

The only way we will put an end to the Bin Laden's of the world is if we eliminate the fuel that supports them. He is successful only because we allow him to be by giving him example after example of injustice. The only way to fix this is by making sure that we follow our laws - all the time. That means we have to protect the rights of the weakest among us - all the time. We have to be the beacon of light that ensures that all nations follow the principles of human rights - all the time.

We can't just attack the regimes we don't like. We have to use our power to make sure our "allies" follow the same code of conduct that we say we apply to ourselves. If we eliminate the double standard - and do it openly and in a meaningful way - the support for Bin Laden and others like him will melt away.