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  Started by holotone 2 years ago         5 Comments

http://sfgate.com/cg.../&auth=48
http://thestar.com.m...=Worldupdates

George W. Bush got what he wanted, ostensibly as a tool in his unfocused "war on terror": By signing into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Bush has made it legal for the C.I.A. to continue operating torture facilities in undisclosed, foreign countries, and for the writ of habeas corpus to be suspended for individuals who are designated "enemy combatants" against the U.S. (Designated by whom? That question remains unanswered.) The law also "establishes military tribunals that would allow some use of evidence obtained by coercion [that is, torture], but would give defendants access to classified evidence being used to convict them."

The provisions of Bush's new torture law mean that Americans have lost the key, constitutional right on which Anglo-American criminal law (and criminal-law procedures in true democracies in general) is founded; that's the basic right of an individual to know why he or she is being apprehended and detained. Now, technically, as in Stalin's Soviet Union, Hitler's Germany, Mao's China or Pol Pot's Cambodia, anyone labeled an "enemy combatant" - again, by whom; by Bush? - can be whisked away and never heard from again. That kind of authority, in the hands of corrupt or untruthful politicians, may or may not be an effective tool in some kind of "war on terror," but it certainly can be a useful tool when it comes to silencing their opponents.

Your thoughts?

Tags: civil liberties, history, places, strange, terrorism, war on terror

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Skrrrriti 2 years ago

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can I say "Not surprised, but very disheartened" for multiple polls?

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uewebawo 2 years ago

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holo: just to clarify, the text of the bill defines "enemy combatant" as anyone the president declares to be an enemy combatant.

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holotone 2 years ago

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Olbermann: The Beginning Of The End For America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqxmPjB0WSs

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holotone 2 years ago

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Hasta La Vista, Habeas Corpus:
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/55645

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jody 2 years ago

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Good page to watch as this unfolds: http://en.wikipedia....s_Act_of_2006

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