Wrong People and the Bill of Rights

When the founding fathers laid down the foundation of our systems of government, they began with the phrase 'We, the People..'. For the first time in all of mankind's history, a nation was being defined by the people. State sovereignty came not to some man claiming 'Devine Right', but from the people. We, a free people, were chartering a government and defining for it certain tasks, and reserving for the people, all those rights not given over to the government.. In the first ten amendments to that document, the founding fathers specified a number of protections from the government that the people would enjoy. For two hundred years, these protections have served us well. Until now.

The United States Attorney General, in conjunction with the President of the United States, has decided that those who commit acts of war against American Civilians are entitled to civil trials.

Consider the problems this precipitates. If by virtue of the United States Constitution, a combatant has the right to remain silent, how does the military interrogate him? At trial, a defendant has the right to all the evidence that is arrayed against him. In order to get a 'conviction', must we now expose to the world our intelligence gathering methods? Considering all the legal technicalities that can be exploited by skilled attorneys, what is the probability that some cases will get thrown out? What do you do with a bomber you can no longer incarcerate?

The irony is that the founding fathers put together the Bill of Rights to protect us from the government. It has worked well for over 200 years. Too bad they didn't figure out a way to protect us from morons.