Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain released the following statement very late Friday night regarding the capture of the second suspect in the Boston bombings, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. What many have found interesting about this statement is that the senators call for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev not to be read his Miranda rights. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is an American citizen, which, in most cases, would force him to get his Miranda rights. Miranda rights are a precedent that was set by the Supreme Court regarding the Sixth Amendment. However, the senators feel that due to the actions the suspect took out, we are in a state of war, and able to not give him his Miranda rights.
“We truly appreciate the hard work and dedication of our law enforcement and intelligence communities.
It is clear the events we have seen over the past few days in Boston were an attempt to kill American citizens and terrorize a major American city. The accused perpetrators of these acts were not common criminals attempting to profit from a criminal enterprise, but terrorist trying to injure, maim, and kill innocent Americans.
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. 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.
Under the Law of War we can hold this suspect as a potential enemy combatant not entitled to Miranda warnings or the appointment of counsel. Our goal at this critical juncture should be to gather intelligence and protect our nation from further attacks.
We remain under threat from radical Islam and we hope the Obama Administration will seriously consider the enemy combatant option.
We will stand behind the Administration if they decide to hold this suspect as an enemy combatant.”