Enemy Combatants and Criminals

Thoughts on Terrorists as Enemy Combatants and Criminals
By Brett Palat

Since 9/11 the United States and the international community has struggled to adopt any uniform policies toward those who commit acts of terrorism. Sometimes terrorists are caught and tried in a court of law. Other times they are captured and indeterminately detained by military forces. The inability of the U.S. and U.N. to obtain a consensus on policies regarding terrorism from most of the international community is continuing to hamper counterterrorism efforts domestically and abroad. Recent events in Indonesia provide a troubling example of what happens when no real consensus or plan for detaining known terrorist operatives exists.

The spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiya (JI) terrorist group in Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir, was released from prison on June 14, 2006 after serving 26 months in prison for his connection to the 2002 Bali bombings. The bombings killed 202 people including 88 Australian tourists. Bashir was acquitted of almost all charges against him and convicted only of a conspiracy charge. The release of Bashir is a serious blow to counterterrorism efforts in Southeast Asia. His release can only signal a soft handed policy on terrorism by the Indonesian government. Bashir will continue to operate as a terrorist and plan the deaths of innocent civilians. The situation prompts a serious question that is already part of an ongoing debate. Should those who commit acts of terrorism be treated as criminals or enemy combatants? Historically, enemy combatants are turned over to the military while criminals are turned over to the civil justice system. The question of whether an act of terrorism is an act of war by U.S. and international standards remains to be answered along with a uniform definition of terrorism. If one concedes that an act of terrorism is an act of war, then it would be within logical means to conclude that any person who commits an act of terrorism is an enemy combatant. But then what about Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing? Because McVeigh was an American citizen, the U.S. decided to try him as a criminal despite his blatant act of terrorism. And yet since the passage of the Patriot Act, the U.S. government has held U.S. citizens associated with terrorist groups without trial and the same justice process that McVeigh received.