Habeus Corpus, We Hardly Knew You
Feingold got it right when he called this a stain:
Bush Signs Military Commissions into Law
Let's clear a bit of air here. If you support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, fine; if you support detaining 'illegal combatants' in Gitmo, fine; if you support the interogation techniques used by the military that we'd previously called torture when used by other countries, fine. We can talk about those in due time, but that's not the issue here.
Today, the President signed a law that allows him to suspend habeus corpus for anyone, including American citizens, just because a review board of his choosing says that person is an 'illegal combatant.' So, a board chosen by the president gets to decide who is an illegal combatant, and then put them in jail without charge indefinitely.
What defines us is that we don't do things like this. We respect the rule of law, we uphold the rights of everyone, even the most base, despicable mass murderers who seek to kill us all. Why? Because if we didn't, well, then we're using those same base, despicable tactics, and what does that make us?
Not Americans, and you can thank Congress for that.
Bush Signs Military Commissions into Law
Let's clear a bit of air here. If you support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, fine; if you support detaining 'illegal combatants' in Gitmo, fine; if you support the interogation techniques used by the military that we'd previously called torture when used by other countries, fine. We can talk about those in due time, but that's not the issue here.
Today, the President signed a law that allows him to suspend habeus corpus for anyone, including American citizens, just because a review board of his choosing says that person is an 'illegal combatant.' So, a board chosen by the president gets to decide who is an illegal combatant, and then put them in jail without charge indefinitely.
What defines us is that we don't do things like this. We respect the rule of law, we uphold the rights of everyone, even the most base, despicable mass murderers who seek to kill us all. Why? Because if we didn't, well, then we're using those same base, despicable tactics, and what does that make us?
Not Americans, and you can thank Congress for that.
posted by Justin # 10/17/2006 05:12:00 PM 
