It is not enough that Sen. Olympia Snowe has done her best to scuttle needed health care reform for political reasons, now Sen. Susan Collins is bringing further shame to the state by becoming the latest mouthpiece for torture and extralegal prisoner abuse.

Earlier this month, Collins bemoaned the fact that Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was actually to be given access to counsel and prosecuted in civilian court. The pro-torture, anti-Constitution Collins suggested that non-citizens had no rights under the Constitution. Thankfully, that is not the case.

In this country, everyone — citizen or not — has a right to humane treatment, legal counsel and trial by jury. In Collins’ ideal world, evil terrorists are too scary for the criminal justice system and must be whisked away to secret prisons, tortured, or summarily executed if “we” deem it necessary.

I believe that this country and its wonderful Constitution are more powerful than any terrorist. It’s a shame that Collins does not agree.

Now the Obama administration has demonstrated how effective traditional criminal procedures are in gaining the cooperation of Abdulmutallab. Presented with the facts, Collins hemmed and hawed through an MSNBC interview with Andrea Mitchell, falsely claiming that the proper security officials were not notified that the suspect was granted Miranda rights. Having had her world view demolished by facts, Collins resorted to misdirection.

I urge my fellow Mainers to vote Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe out of office as soon as possible.

Daniel Salerno, Farmington

Copy the Story Link