What's the Problem?

Ooh superman where are you now
When everything's gone wrong somehow
--Land of Confusion, Genesis

The Very definition of a republic is "an empire of laws,
and not of men"
--John Adams
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Ranger Question of the Day:

If Manuel Noriega is a POW, then why wasn't Saddam Hussein?
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Ranger is tired of the American legal system acting as though its precepts are formed on the fly.

We must return to basics, which means honoring our history of jurisprudence. These days, it is as though the judicial system has suddenly hung a shingle outside of a storefront and is creating rules "bottom up," ab ovo.

The current Noriega flap is the most recent example of feigned confusion over detentions and designations.

"The U.S. government is satisfied that France will treat former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega as a prisoner of war if he is extradited to face French money laundering charges, federal prosecutors said Thursday (US Says France Will Treat Noriega As POW)."

POWs are not extradited. When was the last time a POW laundered money?

The State Department says Noriega will have "the same benefits he has enjoyed during his confinement in the United States." His "confinement" was a jail cell, albeit one with some nifty appointments.

If the U.S. was not in a state of belligerency with Panama, then there was no legality in his confinement as a POW. How can France recognize his POW status when there is no state of belligerency between France and Panama?

What is he -- a criminal or a POW? He can't be both. POWs are not criminals.

This began with phony imperialistic invasions of Grenada and Panama, is is presently expressed in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is our next folly to be? America needs to return to the basics of legality, and a fully-functioning tripartite government.

No soft partitions, thanks.