(Strathmore University Press, 2016-01) Kimari, Brian
The war on terror is indeed justified. Terror attacks have resulted in the deaths
of many innocent people around the world. Every nation in fact has a duty to
protect her citizens from terror attacks and put up measures to prevent and punish
terrorists. However, the government also has a duty to uphold the rule of law
at all times despite the gravity of the attacks. This paper disputes arguments that
terrorism is so novel and so grave that the rule of law can be sacrificed in order to
deal with it. This position fails since terrorism is not a novel challenge and further
because terrorism manifests itself as a form of imperialism, which is a challenge
that has several times been dealt with in world history. Terrorism does not change
the normal rules of criminal procedure and thus the rule of law should not be
suspended in the name of counter-terrorism.