AP
With the manhunt for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev still underway, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Friday called for him to be held as an "enemy combatant"-- a term President Barack Obama abandoned shortly after taking office in 2009.
The "enemy combatant" designation was a major part of the Bush administration's approach to dealing with terrorism suspects; while Obama did away with the specific term, he maintained the right to detain people who provided "substantial" support to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
If captured, I hope Administration will at least consider holding the Boston suspect as enemy combatant for intelligence gathering purposes.— Lindsey Graham (@GrahamBlog) April 19, 2013
If the #Boston suspect has ties to overseas terror organizations he could be treasure trove ofinformation.— Lindsey Graham (@GrahamBlog) April 19, 2013
The last thing we may want to do is read Boston suspect Miranda Rights telling him to "remain silent."— Lindsey Graham (@GrahamBlog) April 19, 2013
The Obama Administration needs to be contemplating these issues and should not rush into a bad decision.— Lindsey Graham (@GrahamBlog) April 19, 2013
Graham has previously said he believes the decision to determine who an enemy combatant is should reside with the president.