By this logic, Washington, Jefferson, et al, become terrorists. 
It was their belief that human rights were rights “endowed by the creator”, not by citizenship.  Once we start picking and choosing to whom we are going to grant the privilege of human rights, it’s all downhill from there.  Of course, it is still denied to many within these borders.  Even bourgeois democracy has some institutions worth preserving.
  
“Only at the end of a gun barrel do they realize the beauty of our system”.  I’m not sure the dead of Vietnam, El Salvador, Nicaragua, etc, saw “the beauty of our system” .

Yeah, moppy, all that “human rights” stuff really gets in the way sometimes, doesn’t it?

One of the prinicples that the founding fathers of your country agreed upon is that human beings have certain rights just by virtue of being human; rights that are not bestowed by any institution and that cannot be infringed upon without due process.  These rights were not a matter of national origin, but universal. 

just curious where someone is coming from when they start discussing such topics.

this topic is beyond the military, especially with this slop jar president. 9/11ers in civilian courts? mission teams have their hands “officially” tied? miranda what?

there are many levels of intel. much is gathered on the ground by the boots running the missions.  it is amazing had persuasive one can be in such an environment. milk the detainee and release if advisable or hold for the secret squirrels. 

Umm, Mike, are you arguing for us to NOT rely so much on human intelligence in the GWOT?  What’s your point here? 

If jester is right—which you apparently seem to think—then we shouldn’t rely too much on intelligence derived from technical sources (videos, signals intercepts, etc…)  But, if it’s foolhardy to rely on human sources, too—then, what are we supposed to use?  Ouija boards?

The U.S. criminal courts have a far superior conviction record then Military Tribunals. Far superior.

OK—but that’s besides the point.  If you take someone to court, you have to afford Miranda protections, right to an attorney, right to remain silent—all things that restrict the flow of intelligence. 

Name for us one Military tribunal where a terrorist was nabbed and jailed.

Khalid Sheikh Muhammad pled guilty at Gitmo, and was going to be sentenced, until the Obama Administration put a kibosh on the military tribunals and routed him to trial, sometime in the future, in Manhattan.

As for “jailing” terrorists, we’ve already done that—in Gitmo.  Are you voting to keep Gitmo open?

What’s your solution, Mike? 

I think you’ll find we’re much, much better at developing networks and speaking face-to-face with locals than we were just a few years ago.  The American military has a repuation for adapting quickly.  Rommell made that observation in WWII, and it’s still true today.

Just an old 35D.  First To Fight—Victory!