From: Faisal Jawdat
Date: Sun Oct 21, 2001 07:12:56 PM US/Pacific
To: letters@washpost.com
Subject: Regarding "Silence of 4 Terror Probe Suspects Poses Dilemma"
To the Editor,
Your article, "Silence of 4 Terror Probe Suspects Poses Dilemma"
(Sunday, October 21, 2001), states "some are beginning to that say that
traditional civil liberties may have to be cast aside". This is
misleading. The restrictions against torture, extortion and coerced
confessions are not 'traditional', they are fundamental to the Bill of
Rights.
Despite the enormity of the alleged crimes of these suspects, their
right to keep their mouth shut (and to not get tortured for exercising
that right) is guaranteed by the fifth amendment to the Constitution:
the document upon which this country is based, the document that makes
America America.
Anyone who wants to float a trial balloon for discarding the
constitutional rights of prisoners in the name of expediency should be
ashamed of themselves. In the meantime, I suggest that we ought to have
the bravery to guard our freedoms if we with to remain "the land of the
free and the home of the brave".
Regards,
Faisal Jawdat
Redwood City, CA