Robert Green wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in message

stuff snipped

And lest you think that it's just not right to imprison someone
without benefit of a trial, remember only CRIMINALS get trials.
Every day those in civil contempt, juveniles, the mentally unstable,
"illegal aliens", and carriers of contagious diseases are locked up
without trial. They didn't get a trial because they, like UECs, are
not criminals.

That's a little misleading, Bubster, to say the least. (-:

All of the groups you mention don't get trials but they are all able
to avail themselves of judicial process. To be committed for any
length of time, the mentally defective are entitled to a competency
hearing. Juveniles have juvenile court. Those in civil contempt have
usually been found to be so because of a judge's order. We just
don't lock people up willy-nilly like China or Russia. Until
recently, anyway.

You are correct in that the situations I mentioned almost always get some
sort of judicial review. The accused do NOT get trials. They are NOT
entitled to a jury of their peers. They do NOT get compulsory process for
obtaining witnesses in their favor. They do NOT get an indictment by a Grand
Jury. In most cases, they do NOT get an attorney. And so on.

Our innate sense of fair play provides for a seemingly disinterested
third-party determination, but that is by statute - not the result of a
constitutional edict.

Unlawful enemy combatants (UECs) fall outside both the U.S. criminal and
civil legal systems. They, like POWs, are handled exclusively by the
military under the usual rules of war, and under these "usual rules" (i.e.,
the Geneva and Hauge Conventions), UECs, along with spys, saboteurs,
guerrillas, fifth-columnists, and the like can be disposed of in any way the
capturing belligerent army sees fit. Our first UEC, Major John Andre, was
given a perfunctory hearing, then hanged by order of George Washington.


Say, did you break up with your nurse friend? A little bird from
Texas whispered something in my ear. (-:

Uh, never had a nurse friend. My current squeeze is a LCSW (Licensed
Clinical Social Worker) whose last job was intake clinician at a psychiatric
hospital. I liken my current relationship to that of the late Isaac Asimov,
whose wife, Janet, is a psychiatrist. And, no, I seldom hear phrases like:
"And how does that make you feel?" or "What would your mother say about
that?" I do, however, hear "Tell me... is it twue what they say about the
way you people are... gifted?" Followed by "It's twue, it's twue!"