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Friday, June 12, 2009
Rich Galen :: Townhall.com Columnist
Miranda, Terrorists and Lawyers
by Rich Galen
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An article in the Weekly Standard maintains that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is being given a broader role in interrogating prisoners taken during raids on terrorist dens in Afghanistan.

I think that's perfectly OK. But it turns out that according to U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) the Obama Administration has determined that at the moment of capture a terrorist becomes a prisoner and must be read his/her Miranda rights.

*** Special Offer ***

For those of you who may have slept through each of the 1,273 Law & Order episodes in all of their various flavors, here is the officially accepted "Miranda Warning:"

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.

According to Rogers who is a former FBI Agent and former officer in the U.S. Army,

"The problem is you take that guy at three in the morning off of a compound right outside of Kabul where he's building bombs to kill US soldiers, and read him his rights by four, and the Red Cross is saying take the lawyer -- you have now created quite a confusion amongst the FBI, the CIA and the United States military.

"And confusion is the last thing you want in a combat zone."

Actually, what I'm certain Rep. Rogers meant to say was "MORE confusion is the last thing you want …" because, having been in a combat zone, I can attest to the fact that there is no shortage of confusion among everyone, everywhere, all the time.

One of the issues with reading a terrorist his Miranda rights in Afghanistan is … how do you know whether the terrorist speaks English? Maybe we will have to issue Miranda Warning Cards in English, Arabic, Pashto, Dari, Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi and Pashai which, according to the CIA World Factbook are languages spoken in Afghanistan.

And that's only if you determine that the terrorist you have just arrested by saying: "Freeze!" or its equivalent in Arabic, Pashto, Dari, Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi or Pashai is Afghan.

If he is Pakistani the card would also have to contain the Miranda warning in Punjabi, Sindhi, Siraiki, Pashtu, Urdu, Hindko, Brahui, and Burushaski.

If he is from any of the other countries bordering Afghanistan like Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, or Turkmenistan then you would have to add Persian, Turkic, Kurdish, Luri, Balochi, Turkish, Tajik, Russian, or Uzbek.

You, I think, begin to see the issues. Miss his language and next thing you know you are staring down at an order signed by Rookie Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declaring any evidence collected as unusable at trial because your terrorist didn't know he could put a sock in it.

I do not present problems without presenting solutions. Well, I don't know what to do about the fact that the Washington Nationals are now 0-8 in extra inning games this year, but that's for another day.

Here's what I think we should do about this Miranda thing. We should arrest the bad guys, and get them a lawyer pretty much immediately. In fact, I think the U.S. Government should begin sending lawyers into combat zones with the operators so that they are ready to advise their clients at the very moment of arrest.

Then, after the lawyer has done his job by advising his client to clam up, the operator should inform the lawyer that all of those prohibitions against harsh interrogation techniques apply to the terrorist - not to the terrorist's lawyer!

Then: Tie the lawyer to a one-by-twelve with his feet about a foot higher than his head, get a big pitcher of water and hold it over his head, dribbling maybe just a few drops, and invite him to think very, very seriously about revising his advice to his client about keeping silent.

It's a war zone. Things get confused.

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About The Author

Rich Galen has been a press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. Rich Galen currently works as a journalist and writes at Mullings.com

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Great Idea!
Obviously lawyers must be sent into combat in Afghanistan, or we can't give these suspects their proper rights. I suggest that the lawyers be used as supplemental body armor.

The terrible answer is shoot more of
them.

Expecting soldiers to administer Miranda and collect evidence while under fire and in danger for their lives is the most idiotic and insane ideas this nitwit administration has developed yet.

But, in my humble opinion, King Elect O and his minions want the defeat and collapse of the USA.

And so far, everything this bunch of Chicago thugs has done fits my feelings--forget what they say: look at Holder dropping voting criminality prosecutions, Sotomayor, Koh (who was defeated--a pro Arab, pro-Palestinian up for under Sec. of State), Napolitano and her right-wing terrorists,

they all show Big O and cronies see the US as ripe for their pol pickings, ec. and socially, and that means an end to the America that has been a beacon for the world and freed 2 billion people since we freed ourselves.

The world according to Liberals.

The lawyers need a make work program too.

Lets spend billions on lawyers and let american children go into debt to attend college.

Liberals call this compassion.

slippery slope
Slobama and his administration are as slippery and slimy as dog doo on wet grass, going down hill!!

Simple
Take no prisoners, kill them on the spot.

Good one Rich!
I assume Rich Galen, brilliant humorist that he is, has already considered that Pres. Obama is in fact, a lawyer.

No doubt Pres. Obama, with his infinite "empathy" for his Muslim brothers, would be the first lawyer to volunteer for said duty.

Stupidity has no bottom
"the Obama Administration has determined that at the moment of capture a terrorist becomes a prisoner and must be read his/her Miranda rights"

Get this lunatic out of the WH

The solution of course is
take no prisenors. If captured out of uniform, not bearing sny documents attesting to their status as a bona-fide member of a states military, execute them on the spot. Rules of War allow it, why tie up guards and land to house them.

Justice or Winning?
I suspect what most Right-wingers really want is some type of massive Phoenix program. Just the mere suspicion of being an enemy combatant is enough to get one hauled in, shot, tortured, imprisoned or executed. Of course, the unintended consequence, as in the Vietnam program, is to create more of the enemy than you eliminate because of the injustices involved in such a program. Since war is about winning not justice, those in charge of counterinsurgency should ignore such lame recommendations from the Right. Chaka Z.

of Czars, Mirandizing Terror...
and Government Takeovers: "When the state is most corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied." Tacitus.

"The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." Abe Lincoln.

I wonder what the soldiers in the field of battle think about this Mirandizing of every captured combatant.

If YOU want 'Em YOU Detain 'Em!!
I haven't been to the ME, but I was around the "SE Asia *War Games*" for TOO long and the *Station Chiefs* dealt with *Detainees.*. I don't know what the guys in the plain Khaki shirts call themselves, but if they want folks to talk to, let THEM handle the *Niceties*.
These prople, OB and his Henchmen need to go "over there" and disarm a ROADSIDE BOMB OR TWO..I suspect they might see things a bit more clearly, if they could see at all..WHAT A BUNCH OF JERKS!! CHEERS

The Next Step to Destroy
Now combat troops have a second reason to not take prisoners, the first being the closing of Gitmo only to see terrorists (Man-caused Disaters, er...Causers) released like game fish back into circulation.

The whole idea of capturing a prisoner is to extract information from him, even if all you have available as a guide is the Army Field Manual, so why would any soldier or marine be inclined to do anything other than shoot these people dead on the spot, even if they raise their hands and surrender?

It's obvious to me that the Obama adminstration is just waiting for the opportunity to prosecute some sorry soldier who reaches this same conclusion and shoots a terrorists rather than take him prisoner, then court-martial him in a public trial to appease the Muslims....what a policy!

Reminds me of 'Breaker Morant'.

Anybody know the capture vs. killed rates lately?

This should be really interesting considering that 10,000 US Marines are about to go on the offensive to burn out the Opium Crop in Helmond Province this week and take out as many Taliban as they can.

I wonder if Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, and Tom Brokaw will be following the grunts around with a TV camera and helpling the Obama adminitration in it's quest?

I guess if any of them actually do get captured and read their Miranda rights and then come to the US for trial, the Holder Justice Department could always just drop the charges on them like they did the Black Panthers in Philadelphia....what a joke.

PROTECT THE TERRORIST RIGHTS
Give me a break !
Next it will be necessary to stretch a yellow band around the scene, marked "crime scene, do not cross". Have CSI collect evidence and give the captured terrorist a cell phone to call his attorney. Then the collected evidence has to be carried back to the USA with secured custody for the $5 Million fair trial.

Has this administration gone completely mad? I believe so. How much more does Obama and Pelosi want to do to undermine our military and country's security? Those two scare me every time they open their mouths.





Must be....
I know Obama can't be as stupid as he seems; he probably just means to shoot them and then the miranda warning and arrest (and lawyer) are irrelevant.

what is the big deal?
In the future there will be no more prisoners!
Just meals for the vultures!
Elvis

TALENT, JOEL...HMMM?
MAYBE WE SHOULD NOT WORRY ABOUT IT AND LET THE SOLDIERS AVOID TAKING PRISONERS.AND SHARPEN UP ON TARGET PRACTICE!?
ELVIS
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