posted April 20, 2013 05:34 PM            

Republican lawmakers issued a statement Saturday urging President Barack Obama to treat Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, as an "enemy combatant."

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Tsarnaev "clearly is a good candidate for enemy combatant status" in a statement posted to Graham's website.

"We do not want this suspect to remain silent," the lawmakers said in their statement.

After Tsarnaev was captured Friday night, the AP reported a Justice Department official said he would not be read his Miranda rights because the government is invoking a public safety exception. Graham, McCain, Ayotte and King praised that decision in their statement.

"A decision to not read Miranda rights to the suspect was sound and in our national security interests," the lawmakers said.

The term "enemy combatant" refers to those individuals that the U.S. believes it is able to hold under the laws of war until the war comes to an end, which could be a long time off in the case of the so-called "war on terror." After Obama took office, his Obama administration developed a new standard for holding detainees in Guantanamo Bay, which did not use the term "enemy combatant" but rather relied upon the Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed by Congress in September 2001.

Graham first suggested Tsarnaev be labeled an "enemy combatant" on Friday in a series of tweets.

"If the #Boston suspect has ties to overseas terror organizations he could be treasure trove of information," one tweet said.

"The last thing we may want to do is read Boston suspect Miranda Rights telling him to 'remain silent,'" said another.

He reiterated his point in a Facebook post Saturday morning.

"Now that the suspect is in custody, the last thing we should want is for him to remain silent. It is absolutely vital the suspect be questioned for intelligence gathering purposes," Graham wrote. "We need to know about any possible future attacks which could take additional American lives. The least of our worries is a criminal trial which will likely be held years from now."

These four Republicans aren't the only ones making this request. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) also urged Obama to "do the right thing" by labeling the suspect an "enemy combatant."

"This is not an ordinary criminal case, and a brief interrogation under that exception is wholly insufficient. Our courts, including the Supreme Court, allow detaining and interrogating terrorism suspects as enemy combatants, regardless of citizenship, and there is no reason to not follow that precedent here," Chambliss said. "I urge this administration to do the right thing and deem this suspect as an enemy combatant so that we get as much intelligence as legally possible before the suspect is mirandized."

Read the lawmakers' full statement below:

The suspect, based upon his actions, clearly is a good candidate for enemy combatant status. We do not want this suspect to remain silent.

We are encouraged our High value detainee interrogation team (HIG) is now involved and working to gather intelligence about how these terrible acts were committed and possibility of future attacks.

A decision to not read Miranda rights to the suspect was sound and in our national security interests.

However, we have concerns that limiting this investigation to 48 hours and exclusively relying on the public safety exception to Miranda, could very well be a national security mistake. It could severely limit our ability to gather critical information about future attacks from this suspect.

We should be focused on gathering intelligence from this suspect right now that can help our nation understand how this attack occurred and what may follow in the future. That should be our focus, not a future domestic criminal trial that may take years to complete.

The public safety exception is a domestic criminal law doctrine that allows questioning of a criminal suspect without Miranda warnings for a limited time and purpose.

We hope the Obama Administration will consider the enemy combatant option because it is allowed by national security statutes and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

We continue to face threats from radical Islamists in small cells and large groups throughout the world. They have, as their primary focus, killing as many Americans as possible, preferably within the United States. We must never lose sight of this fact and act appropriately within our laws and values.

This post has been updated to clarify the meaning of "enemy combatant."

posted April 22, 2013 08:37 PM            

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Originally posted by YoursTrulyAlways:
How about we do to him what his Chechen Muslim brethren do to Russian soldiers? Dismember one finger/toe at a time until he talks.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 22, 2013 09:02 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by YoursTrulyAlways:
How about we do to him what his Chechen Muslim brethren do to Russian soldiers? Dismember one finger/toe at a time until he talks.

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posted April 22, 2013 09:06 PM            

It's funny how some who are (rightly) wary of the scope and parameters of domestic drone action against terrorists can be a-ok with throwing due process out the window when it suits their thinking.

posted April 22, 2013 09:07 PM            

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Originally posted by PixieJane:
Because we'd rather keep the high ground rather than sinking to their level? And because there's no point in fighting monsters if you become a monster yourself?

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I hate that ridiculous attitude. That is what allows tragedies to happen. Being a wimp invites aggression.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 22, 2013 09:16 PM            

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Originally posted by Ami Anne:
I hate that ridiculous attitude. That is what allows tragedies to happen. Being a wimp invites aggression. Being"bigger that they are" with animals like this is like walking into a wild pit bull cage and saying "eat me"

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Mockingbird,, PJ

posted April 22, 2013 09:23 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by YoursTrulyAlways:
How about we do to him what his Chechen Muslim brethren do to Russian soldiers? Dismember one finger/toe at a time until he talks.

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How about the so called leaders of the free world and guardians of the flame of democracy don't sink to that primitive, bloodthirsty level?

posted April 22, 2013 09:27 PM            

You are so ignorant about what is going on that it is amazing. I hope you don't have to learn a long, hard lesson about what you are dealing with.

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 22, 2013 09:32 PM            

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Originally posted by katatonic:
No one could call russian treatment of chechnya "wimpish" in fact stalin would be quite proud. And how has israel's aggressive tactics towards the arabs worked out for ya? Funny there was no radical jihadist army in the 40s.

I am pleased to see the republicans proving i was right, mccain and his merry gang are itching to throw outdue cause and the white house is insisting on it.

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To bring up Israel is totally stupid. I told you all the history but you wanted to block it out for some reason

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 22, 2013 09:36 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Ami Anne:
I hate that ridiculous attitude. That is what allows tragedies to happen. Being a wimp invites aggression.

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Sorta like Daniel in the lions den, ami? Where is your religion now? Where are your morals? Where is your Christian faith? You can't do the devil's work in Christ's name.

posted April 22, 2013 09:36 PM            

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Originally posted by shura:
Sorta like Daniel in the lions den, ami? Where is your religion now? Where are your morals? Where is your Christian faith? You can't do the devil's work in Christ's name.

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I will have to REPOST my article on Christians and righteous anger

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 22, 2013 09:37 PM            

Came out about a decade ago, worth a watch.

posted April 22, 2013 09:40 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Ami Anne:
I will have to REPOST my article on Christians and righteous anger

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A Christian soldier fights with honor. Torturing your captive is a cowardly, dishonorable act.

posted April 22, 2013 09:41 PM            

We're a nation of laws.

That is what we *are*.

Our sovereignty is not based upon God nor upon a line of Kingship, but upon our founding documents and upon our laws.

If we forget that, we forget ourselves.

posted April 22, 2013 10:13 PM            

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Originally posted by mockingbird:
We're a nation of laws.

That is what we *are*.

Our sovereignty is not based upon God nor upon a line of Kingship, but upon our founding documents and upon our laws.

If we forget that, we forget ourselves.

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posted April 22, 2013 10:16 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by shura:
A Christian soldier fights with honor. Torturing your captive is a cowardly, dishonorable act.

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These pigs need whatever it takes!

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted April 22, 2013 10:36 PM            

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Originally posted by Ami Anne:

These pigs need whatever it takes!

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Yes. Pigs! Piggy! Kill the Piggy! Your bloodlust is showing, ami. And why conceal the truth? Go ahead, feed it. Indulge the demon.

posted April 22, 2013 10:47 PM            

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal