A question being asked is whether or not Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the alleged attempted-bomber aboard the Delta flight to Detroit, has been read his Miranda rights and received his free lawyers in Ann Arbor, Michigan.This, of course, is asking whether or not the Obama administration will continue to argue that foreigners who are part of a terrorist organization actually qualify under the constitution for civil rights or whether they should be treated as terrorists who qualify for neither civil rights nor rights under the Geneva Convention.
Those arguing for granting civil rights to foreign terrorists say that gives us moral superiority even if there really is no legal standing for such an argument. Those arguing that such foreign terrorists do not deserve such protection point out that not only is it contrary to the intent of the Miranda Rights decision to extend those rights to terrorists, but wholly stupid to suffer the consequences of being unable to interrogate such persons for information that will lead to crippling the terrorist organization.
One must ask, if the process is to extend rights to one terrorist, what about a group of terrorists, or an army of terrorists. What happens if 100 terrorists attack the U.S. in a coordinated manner? Are they simple criminals... the same as your neighborhood burglar... who should be given free legal services and a warm jail cell with three meals per day? What about 1,000 terrorists? Same deal? Remember, they aren't wearing uniforms and are not an organization of any country.
President Obama needs to think this through before he cuts off our noses to spite our faces.