Mike Forster's Position Papers - Rights Belong to All

Rights Belong to All, not just to US Citizens

Mike Forster, Palo Alto California
Copyright © 2002 Mike Forster

President Bush is wrong when he states that the "rights of US citizens" do not apply to the Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.

The US tradition, as stated in the United States' Declaration of Independence, is that "all men ... are endowed ... with certain inalienable rights ...". This statement and this tradition does not distinguish between citizens of the US and citizens of other nations of the world, or of no nation at all.

Realistically, it may be that the level of evidence required to convict a person of international terrorism or other international crimes may simply never be available, so perhaps a slightly lowered level of evidence should apply in such cases. If so, then that lowered level of evidence should apply to all persons, US citizens as well as others.

However, all rights as stated by the United Nations and the new International Criminal Court should apply to all prisoners everywhere, including those now held at Guantanamo Bay. If the US does not respect and apply such rights, why should the US expect any other nation to do so?

Long term, consistent US advocacy of everyone's basic civil rights is the only means by which the world will respect the US for the right reasons of democracy and justice, rather than respect based only on the fear of the might of the US military.