Theories of Human Rights Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Theories of Human Rights - Term Paper Example The problem with the Act stems from the way it was passed into law. The Act was formulated forty-five days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Besides the short period it took to formulate, Congress was given limited time to read and debate the bill. In fact, there are fears that many members of congress did not have enough time to read the document and as such, they might have passed it into law flawed. The hasty way in which this Act was formulated and passed could have been because of fear for another terrorist attack. Even so, it could also have been used as an avenue to infuse it with undeserved provisions benefitting the government. This hastiness served to entrench the secret ways in which the government uses the Act’s allowances (Smith & Li-Ching 23). There have been cases reported about FBI agents breaking into and searching people’s homes without notice. The violations of rights by the Patriot Act are complicated. Targets of FISA surveillance are not furnished with the contents of the court order that led to their arrest and as such, they lack the grounds to challenge wiretaps and searches done illegally. This contrasts significantly with a defendant prosecuted under the criminal investigative authority of the government who would be furnished with a copy of the court order. Proponents of the Patriot Act move that as the commander-in-chief, the president should use any means to protect the country from attacks. This argument downplays the fact that the president and the executive are not above the law and the Constitution (Smith & Li-Ching 24). The means they use to protect the country from attacks are supposed to be constrained by the constitution. Following the subtle implications of Section 218, it is possible that some people who are thought to be against government policies or who are related to foreign powers are unfairly searched and

Internal weaknesses that impacted the Islamic Societies during the Essay

Internal weaknesses that impacted the Islamic Societies during the Crudades and Mongol Wars - Essay Example Even though the early crusades were named and were quite successful in realizing the desired objectives, majority of the crusades that took place in the later years were ineffective and thus they were defeated by their counterparts, the Muslims. The Mongols on the other hand invaded Muslim land in the thirteenth century. They moved from one Islamic region to another slaughtering all the Muslims they came across. In just a single city, they slaughtered almost 2 million people. Such had immense effect on the locals in terms of their political power, economy, social life, culture, religion and population as explored in this paper. Soldiers in hundreds of thousands became crusaders through taking of vows, with the Pope granting these soldiers Plenary Indulgence. The emblem of the soldiers in the war was a cross, as the term crusade was derived from a French phrase, â€Å"taking the cross†. Most of the crusaders were from France, calling themselves ‘Franks’ that eventually became a common term among the Muslims. By this time, Christianity was yet to divide into large numbers of intermingled geographical regions which later formed the eastern churches of Byzantine Orthodox and the Western Roman Catholic. The Crusaders just considered themselves as Christians but not as Muslims. They had immense impact on Middle East, and particularly to Islamic religion. Crusades Background Among the powers that medieval popes had was the ability of requesting the kings and monarchs to be provided with troops as well as money to facilitate what they deemed as holy wars, such as the Crusades. The Crusades were fought because of geopolitical, economic and religious conflicts between the Muslims and the Christians.3 The spark for the initial Crusade came in year 1095, at the time when the Byzantines within the European Christians for military assistance against Turks, and Seljuk who had recently captured the city of Jerusalem. In order to increase their chances of receiving more aid, Byzantines exaggerated the rumors of Holy Land atrocities from the Turkish people. Pope Urban II immediately responded by summoning of the Council of Clermont, calling upon the European Catholics knights to recapture the city of Jerusalem because of the religious value that they placed to the Holy Land. In 1096, an army of Crusaders traveled headed to the Middle East through Constantinople, fighting the Muslim forces that they encountered along the way. The army reached Jerusalem two years later, 1099. They placed the city under siege, and they butchered almost every single Jew and Muslim within the walls of th e City. In the process, the Crusaders massacred a significant number of Christians whom were mistaken for Muslims. Because of lack of unity among the Jews, Turks and Muslims, they suffered immense loss and defeat from the Crusaders.4 Crusades in Islamic Society Much of the most important works of histories of crusades are being published and the settlements that have been established within their wake are concerned with the 13th and the 14th Centuries, while the great vistas are providing an opening in the sixteenth centuries.5 The Crusades, which were launched upon the holy land of Middle East from Urban II Speech that took place in 1095 at the Council of Cl