The following is todays position paper from badnarik. Unlike Kerry and Bush, Badnarik is strongly opposed to the PATRIOT act.
http://badnarik.org/Issues/RightsOfAccused.php
http://badnarik.org/Issues/RightsOfAccused.php
Among the complaints our Founding Fathers cited in their Declaration of Independence as justification for throwing off the British government, we find the following:
"For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury ... For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences ... For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government ..."
In the case of "enemy combatants" and other "detainees," the choice is quite simple: They may be held as prisoners of war, with all the protections afforded them by the Geneva Convention (a treaty ratified by the Senate pursuant to its Constitutional Authority), or they may be held as accused criminalswith all the protections afforded them by the Constitution. There are no other lawful alternatives.
As your president, I will act swiftly to have all "detainees" properly classified.
Those charged with crimes will receive access to counsel, speedy public trial by jury, the right to confront their accusers, to examine the evidence against them and to produce evidence and witnesses in their own defense.