> > Ok...we're fighting a war. I think we can all
> > agree on that. Who are we fighting? A bunch of
> > Middle Eastern guys.
>
> "A bunch of Middle Eastern guys?" That's like saying "World War II was fought against a bunch of Europeans and some Asians." It's important in times of war to restrain ourselves in defining who 'the enemy' is, lest we alienate our allies and those who are merely neutral.

Exactly. And TOM basically proved this point when he lumped "Middle Eastern guys" into one stereotypical category. I know someone named Mohamed who was born and raised in Egypt and is an Egyptian student. He is here in the United States on a student visa, and received his bachelor's degree in electronic engineering last year. Now he's working on his master's degree, and when he finishes that next December, he'll start work on his doctorate degree. Yes, he is a "Middle Eastern guy."

But does that mean that Mohamed is bad and that he helped plot against America? No, it does not. I enjoy talking to him, in part because he is honestly one of the more intelligent, free-thinking people I've met in quite a while. He's involved in student government because he wants to make a difference. When all the other government officials get stuck in a rut and begin thinking the same way, he doesn't go along with it. Instead, he looks at the issue from various angles, considers them all and then makes his own conclusions. I've talked to him about such things as the Sept. 11 attacks, and about the recent capture of John Walker, the American Taliban. Just because he's a "Middle Eastern guy," that does not mean that he's out to get Americans. On the contrary, he has a lot of respect for this country, and he also felt the impact of the Sept. 11 attacks.

> > Most of the Middle Eastern guys being held by
> > our government, if I am not mistaken, are not
> > citizens of this country. Therefore, they are not
> > protected by our Constiution and the other
> > laws we have in place.
>
> They're not entitled to the same Constitutional protections as US citizens, true, but they still do have rights.

I couldn't agree more. Who are we to judge one person more strictly than another, just because of their national origin?

> >
> > The writer of this speech wonders about the
> > suspension of habeas corpus becoming
> > common. I'm sure the same thing was said
> > when the greatest president we've ever had,
> > Abraham Lincoln, did the same thing during
> > the Civil War. The same thing happened
> > during World War II when FDR ordered
> > Japanese-Americans put into internment
> > camps.
>
> And these were both terrible decisions that should not be repeated (I've got a friend in the Navy who is a history buff and refers to Lincoln as a facist). And the effects of these bad decisions would have been worse if Americans had not stood up and told their government that Constitutional protections are especially important when they are inconvenient. It's also worth noting that the majority of people in the internment camps weren't foreign nationals. They were US citizens.

U.S. citizens who lost their jobs, homes, livelihoods, family members and their very lives. I used to live about an hour from a place where the Japanese were imprisoned during WWII, and it was a desolate place, even when we just drove past it. Even at a young age, I thought it was horrible that we could lock people in there for no real reason, other than the color of their skin.

Ellmyruh