Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
It is a very, very strange conception of individual rights that holds that a state may torture an individual who may or may not be guilty of a crime simply in order to obtain information from him or her in the name of the public interest, but that the state cannot diminish the value of an individual's property in the name of the public interest, whether or not compensation is paid.
It's sort of like Locke meets de Sade, or something.
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The people being tortured are not citizens. The people whose property rights are protected are. Certainly, you don't suggest that we adopt a policy that everyone be treated as though he was a citizen of this country? That'd be very Bushian, in line with his "everyone needs to live in an American democracy" message. People of various countries have their unique cultures, freedoms and rights. And when we catch them engaging in terrorist acts, they don't suddenly acquire the rights of a US citizen in custody.
You're comparing apples and oranges, but you knew that. Thats why you wrote "individual" instead of "citizen."
