Pearl Harbor and 9/11; The detainment of the enemy and issues of Human Rights
In Article 9 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights it states ; No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
What is arbitrary arrest?
Arbitrary arrest and arbitrary detention are the arrest or detention of an individual in a case in which there is
- No likelihood or evidence that they committed a crime against legal statute: This happened in WWII when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S military put all Japanese in a camp where they were kept during WWII, just because they had Japanese names or look like one of them, no evidence, nothing.
- or in which there has been no proper due process of law or order: When 9/11 occurred, the government sent all Muslims to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba so they won’t do “anything” to the U.S during all this event, just because they were Muslims. They might have some proves that there were some Muslims involved to the attacked but also there were innocent people arrested too.
If you click on here you’ll see news of arbitrary arrest. The top 3 news headlines I found most interesting from this link include:
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/world/asia/china-travel-advisory.html
- https://www.nst.com.my/world/2019/01/448085/trudeau-trump-denounce-chinas-arbitrary-detention-canadians
- https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019/01/09/cops-ordered-to-pay-sh78m-to-victims-of-arbitrary-arrest_c1874516
Has the United States Government practiced arbitrary arrest?
What happened at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941?
At that date, President Franklin Roosevelt called, ” a date which will live in infamy.” On that day, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The Commander-in-Chief Pacific, sent his hurried dispatch at all major navy commands and fleet units. The U.S. would declare war on Japan, even though the U.S. was already close to join the war, but it had only committed to sending war supplies on loan to the Allied forces. Therefore, Axis powers declared war on the United States December 7, the “date which will live in infamy” brought the United States into World War ll.
When and why was the decision made to detain Japanese Americans?
In February 1942, President Roosevelt signed an executive order to relocate all Americans Japanese ancestry to concentration camps in the interior of the United States. Why was this decision made? Because many Americans worried that Japanese ancestry would act as spies or saboteurs to the Japanese government. It was only fear but not any real evidence of it that drove the U.S. to place over 127,000 Japanese-Americans in concentration camps for the duration of WWII.
What did the Supreme Court Case say? Korimatsu Vs US? Did the Japanese American Citizens get “due process”?
Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II regardless of their citizenship. In a 6–3 decision, the Court sided with the government, ruling that the exclusion order was constitutional. Six of the eight justices appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt sided with Roosevelt. The two others and the lone Herbert Hoover appointee, Owen Roberts, dissented.
60 years later on September 11th 2001 America had its second “pearl harbor” moment.
Islamist extremists associated with the organization known as Al Qaeda, hijacked four planes as they took off from East coast airports in Washington DC and the New York City Area. Two of them were deliberately flown into the twin towers if the World Trade Center in New York City. Another was flown up interstate 395 and crashed at high speed into the Pentagon in Arlington VA and the fourth one was taken down by civilian passengers who realized through cell phone conversations that they were caught up in a massive terrorist effort that must be stopped at any cost. They became heroes of the Nation as they knowingly sacrificed themselves to take out the hijackers locked in the cabin and the plane dove into a field in Shanksville, PA..
Did we arrest Muslim Americans after 9/11 in the same way we did Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor bombing?
No, what we didn’t arrest Muslim Americans as we did with Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor bombing, some Americans went to most of them places to start to burn things and fight them with no mercy.
What was the difference?
When the Pearl Harbor bombing happened, all Japanese Americans went to a place where they all were “locked up” until the war ended. In the other hand, when 9/11 occurred, we didn’t put Muslim Americans to a place where they would be safe-at least- but some Americans went to destroy their properties and places where they used to work.
How did some Americans react to Muslim Americans after 9/11?
Who was detained by the American Government at Guantanamo Bay Cuba? Did they receive due process? Why or why not?
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantanamo, G-Bay, GTMO, Gitmo, and America’s Gulag, which is on the coast of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Since the inmates have been detained indefinitely without trial and several detainees have been tortured, the operations of this camp are considered to be a major breach of human rights by Amnesty International.
The camp was established by President George W. Bush’s administration in 2002 during the War on Terror. His successor, President Barack Obama, promised that he would close it, but met strong bipartisan opposition from Congress, which passed laws to prohibit detainees from Guantanamo being imprisoned in the U.S. During Obama’s administration, the number of inmates was reduced from about 245 to 41; most former detainees were freed and transferred to other countries.
In January 2018, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the prison camp open indefinitely. In May 2018, the first prisoner was transferred during Trump’s term; this reduced the number of inmates to 40.
What is the Patriot Act?
