>does their love of liberty and equality extend to the people of other nations, Vietnam and Iraq springing immediately to mind?.....or is death another definition of "freedom"?

The question was about the Bill of Rights, inviolate (if occasionally battered) since 1789.

Without it, there'd be no discussion about what sort of trials - civil or military - Guantanamo prisoners deserve. They'd simply be hanged, which some Americans would prefer.

Nobody in authority (much less the head of state) has seriously suggested that any prisoners, even dangerous enemies of the nation, be summarily executed.

Because in U.S. custody they have rights.