It was written in the New York Times that Michael Kinsley insisted that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the al-Qaeda operative, who wanted to undertake a terrorist attack on an airline over Detroit, should be treated as a criminal defendant but not as an enemy combatant. He claims that there should be a line that has to make distinctions between engaging the criminal-justice system and waging war. Moreover, such line should exist somewhere; and the U.S. border can be equally good for that. According to the US Constitution and statutes, al-Qaeda terrorists arrested abroad are regarded as enemy combatants and those who are arrested at home are treated as criminal defendants.

But the problem is that the boarders between the reign of law and war are not discretionary, they are established by law and custom. The choice of the American territory is not governed by military strategy, law or logic. The American territory has seen the Revolutionary War and Civil War, many other military conflicts with Indians. The war with terrorists can be also fought in any other country, e.g. in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Yemen. But the United States is a preferred battle arena for al-Qaeda’s, because the peaceful population concentrated on this very place are the most wanted goal. And therefore, there were a lot of victims on September 11in in New York and Washington.

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