Secret prisons
<p>I&#8217;m having real trouble understanding the current flap over allegations that<br />
the CIA is running secret overseas prisons for terrorists and enemy combatants.<br />
I would prefer not to believe this is just another outbreak of reflexive<br />
anti-Americanism, but I don&#8217;t see any principled case against what is<br />
being alleged.  Can anyone explain it to me?</p>
<p><span id="more-238"></span></p>
<p>Now, mind you, if there were any reason at all to believe American<br />
citizens were being shipped off to these hypothetical gulags I would<br />
be screaming bloody murder.  I believe even American citizens taken<br />
under arms as enemy combatants are entitled to the protections<br />
guaranteed by the Constitution.  Violating the rights of non-combatant<br />
Americans in this way would be even worse &mdash; grounds for<br />
impeachment of every official in the chain of command, up to and<br />
including the President.</p>
<p>But the U.S. government has no constitutional, legal, or moral<br />
obligation to treat foreign terrorists or foreign enemy combatants as<br />
though they were American citizens.  The laws of the host country<br />
might apply, but even that much is not clear if the locations are on<br />
U.S. military bases (often, by treaty or agreement, these are<br />
administered under U.S. military law).</p>
<p>I do think we have a moral obligation to treat such prisoners<br />
humanely.  But the outrage being ginned up isn&#8217;t over any alleged<br />
inhumanity, it&#8217;s against the U.S. having such facilities at all.  And<br />
I don&#8217;t get that.  Back during the Cold War, not even the Left bleated<br />
over Communist-bloc agents being immured in similar conditions; what<br />
makes jihadi and Baathist terrorists any more deserving of anyone&#8217;s<br />
tender-mindedness?</p>
<p>To be clear, I recognize the obvious political and moral dangers of<br />
having such a system; they have to be traded off against the lives<br />
that are saved by the intelligence it collects and by keeping hardened<br />
terrists out of play.  But it seems to me that&#8217;s a debate that should<br />
be confined to American domestic politics, and conducted with<br />
circumspection even there lest it provide political cover for our<br />
enemies.</p>
<p>Instead, we have European politicians mouthing off about denying<br />
the U.S. overflight rights and demanding more public disclosure.  That<br />
is out of line; whether those prisons exist and what goes on there is<br />
to be decided by (a) Americans, (b) the host countries, and (c)<br />
<em>nobody else</em>.  This is an elementary application of the same<br />
rules of sovereignity that Europeans treat with such fastidious<br />
tenderness when an anti-American dictator is the beneficiary.</p>
<p>As I said, I&#8217;d like to believe this flap isn&#8217;t just the routine<br />
and unjustified U.S.-bashing I&#8217;ve come to expect.  But I&#8217;m not<br />
optimistic.</p>
