Do you recall "For liberty and Justice for all"? Well it seems as if those six words no longer exist in present day America. As a Veteran of the Military, I swore to serve and protect those foreign and domestic. Like many active duty and veteran military, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment as a soldier knowing that I was fighting for a country where you had civil liberties. At the time it was truly the land of the free and the home of the brave. Unfortunately, those liberties, that most Americans take for granted and others flee to this country to obtain, was threatened on September 11, 2001. The nation suffered from a great deal of loss, pain, anger, and disbelief that was felt across the world. With emotions becoming more inflamed with thoughts of revenge, the American people wanted answers and even more importantly, they wanted to see immediate action against those that commented this act of terror against this great nation. In response, Former-President George W. Bush and his administration set out to capture those thought to be responsible for the terrorist attack. In addition, Former-President Bush and his administration went to great lengths to go beyond the reach of the judicial system which enforces the writ of Habeas Corpus. These actions have been highly debated all across the nation and even the world. Did the tragedy of September 11th, justify the actions of the Former-President? Was and is it fair that people were and are still locked away, stripped of their basic rights under the writ of Habeas Corpus? Is this “Great Nation” so powerful that the very laws that were put into place to protect now don’t apply? The following exams these questions and many more, including the writ of Habeas Corpus, legal debates regarding this topic, and the perspectives of Former-President Bush and his administration during the time immediately following the September 11th attack.
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