If indeed the terrorist attacks are labeled as “acts of war,” then couldn’t the people currently detained (some 29 or so), be labeled as spies if they are found guilty of being complicit in the acts? They’re in this country, and they’re not wearing any uniform thereby trying to pass themselves off as civilians. I’d think that the punishment for being found guilty of spying would be more severe than violating immigration laws.
IANAL and IANAP but most likely the serious charge anyone detained could face would be to charged with conspiracy in the hijacking, which would earn you a trip to the Federal prison system’s Death Row I believe.
You would determine their complicity based on the evidence collected at the time of their detainment. If the person caught was carrying explosives and maps of famous U.S. landmarks when he entered the country, I imagine he would have a lot of explaining to do.
But you can’t just charge people as spies, just because they happened to be sneaking into the country at the time of the WTC incident. There are other reasons for entering this country without proper documentation that have nothing to do with terrorism or spying.
Act of WAR is not necessarily a term of fact. Bush seems to be using it as a metaphore. As THE WAR ON DRUGS.
You couldn’t charge a drug warlord any more than these people.
Besides there are plenty of other stuff to charge them with. Charging them would not be a problem IF they want to hold them.