Terry climbs on his soapbox....
This is why I'm still undecided about the whole mess. Far too many of our soldiers are being taken from their families, some of them permanently, because somebody dropped the ball prior to 9-11.
From what I heard Traq had nothing to do with 9-11 (assuming that you meant soldiers stationed in Iraq). I believe we invaded Iraq to destroy their nonexistant weapons of mass destruction. I'm not saying we shouldn't be there, or anything like that - only that we didn't go there because of 9-11
Just speaking badly about your president or saying you agree with one Muslim or another is not going to be the deciding factor in these cases.
Just to give you something to think about -
Sedition laws:
After
World War I, several cases involving laws limiting speech came before the Supreme Court. The
Espionage Act of 1917 imposed a maximum sentence of twenty years for anyone who caused or attempted to cause "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States." Under the Act, over two thousand prosecutions were commenced. For instance, one filmmaker was sentenced to ten years imprisonment because his portrayal of British soldiers in a movie about the
American Revolution impugned the good faith of an American ally, the
United Kingdom. The
Sedition Act of 1918 went even farther, criminalizing "disloyal," "scurrilous" or "abusive" language against the government.
Then...
Freedom of speech was influenced by anti-Communism during the
Cold War. In 1940, Congress replaced the Sedition Act of 1918, which had expired in 1921. The Smith Act passed in that year made punishable the advocacy of "the propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force and violence." The law was mainly used as a weapon against
Communist leaders. <snip> Thus, even though there was no immediate danger posed by the Communist Party's ideas, their speech was restricted by the Court.
It just seems like we have a history of making knee jerk laws during or after wartime. The sedition laws of WWI were widely seen as a really bad thing. they criminalized about anything bad that was said about the government.
Anyone remember the communist hunt that went on around the cold war? I hate to see us repeat the same mistakes we've already made so many times.
Sorry for the long - overly political post (terry climbs off soapbox)
You can read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution