McCain and Lieberman: Americans Accused of Crimes Should Have No Rights

by Bill Anderson
LRC Blog
May. 06, 2010

I usually don’t agree with much coming from the editorial section of the New York Times, but today just might be an exception. In an editorial today, the paper condemns a move by senators Joe Lieberman and (Who else?) John McCain to make the accused Times Square bomber an enemy combatant and remove all his rights, despite the fact that he is an American citizen:

Lawmakers like Senators John McCain of Arizona and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Representative Peter King of New York were immediately outraged that Mr. Shahzad -- a United States citizen accused of an attempted attack on civilians in an American city -- was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and eventually read his Miranda rights.

They are demanding that Mr. Shahzad be declared an illegal enemy combatant, stripped of any rights and brought before a military tribunal.

Now, this hardly covers the multitude of sins that the NYT commits every day against liberty, but at least the editors could recognize what Lieberman and McCain are demanding.