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Civil Liberties

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Submitted By ahamm1
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After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, President Bush and Congress reacted quickly and within one week of the attacks had adopted a joint resolution that gave the President the authority to use military force against any group or individual that was deemed to have any association with the al Qaeda terrorist network; specifically, any group or individual across the globe who was suspected of helping to aid in the planning of the attacks on the United States was now subject to the policing of the United States government (Jackson, 2010).
This resolution and vow by President Bush and Congress to take on the war against terrorism resulted in massive military, law enforcement, and intelligence missions being launched in the Middle East and around other parts of the globe. These military and policing efforts resulted in thousands of detentions of citizens and non-citizens as potential suspects, however, in many cases, individuals being detained did not have formal charges placed against them, and they were merely being held on "suspicion" (Jackson, 2010).
The most prominent example of indefinite detention of individuals is seen at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba (GITMO). This pattern of indefinite detention of individuals who in many cases have never been charged with a crime has led to a multitude of legal challenges as prisoners have attempted to evoke their rights of habeas corpus in an attempt to get U.S. Federal Courts to hear their cases (Jackson, 2010).
The general meaning of the right of habeas corpus in the U.S. Constitution and its relationship to the protection of other civil liberties:
In today's legal definitions, habeas corpus is the right of an individual who is incarcerated to question their dentition before a judge to validate the legitimacy of their being detained (Primus, 2010). Habeas corpus provisions are found throughout

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