In a Capitol Hill press conference Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushed back on the White House’s decision not to declare suspected Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev an enemy combatant and thereby strip his rights under the criminal justice system.
Graham said he agrees that “no criminal defendent should ever be required to incriminate themself while they’re in custody of the government” but said it’s more important to gain information he may possess about other potential terrorist attacks.
“Every nation at war should have the ability to defend themselves by gathering intelligence. These are not mutually exclusive concepts,” he said. “I believe our nation is at war. The enemy is radical Islam, defined as the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and affiliated groups. The question I have regarding this case: is there any association between these two individuals and the groups I just named to allow enemy combatant status to be conferred on the suspect in Boston.”
