Above the law: The Bush administration

[DaveSZ]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/04/28/combatants/index.html

Above the law
The Bush administration is arguing that it has the right to lock up U.S. citizens forever -- without evidence, witnesses, lawyers or trials. If the Supreme Court agrees, will this still be America?

By Tim Grieve



April 28, 2004 | U.S. Supreme Court justices listened skeptically last week as Solicitor General Ted Olson argued that foreign detainees being held in U.S. military facilities in Guantánamo Bay have no right to seek relief from U.S. courts. Wednesday, Olson will be back before the court, this time arguing in two historic cases that the government has the authority to lock up U.S. citizens, too -- without charges, without a lawyer, without a trial, without any rights at all -- simply by declaring them "enemy combatants" in the administration's war on terror.

Having government agents sweep U.S. citizens off the streets and into prison cells, holding them incommunicado for as long as the government likes -- it sounds like a dark fantasy of life in a totalitarian state, the kind of thing we're supposed to be fighting against in Iraq. But this is no fantasy. In the cases of Jose Padilla and Yaser Hamdi, the Bush administration is advancing a vision of governmental power that is both far-reaching and unprecedented, at least in the United States of America. And it is a vision -- like the one the administration articulated Tuesday during Supreme Court arguments on the secrecy of Vice President Cheney's energy task force -- that leaves sole discretion, sole authority, and almost unfettered power in the hands of the executive branch.

-more-

[hilaryxdotson]

1. Unfortunately

That doesn't really surprise me :-(

[Stanchetalarooni]

2. If it is OK for his wife to be hidden away without evidence or witnesses..

...then the logic must follow that it is Ok for the rest of America.
After all, let us all pull our own weight around here.
You know, let us share the burden.
(Tinfoil must be affecting the sarcasm-laden nodes of my brain.)

[Ilsa]

3. Today Show actually had this on this morning. Couric was great.

A former WH attorney tried to argue that proceeding with the prosecution of Manuel Padilla and others would wreck intelligence-gathering. Padilla's attorney countered back that she and others assigned have been cleared for security issues so that is no longer an excuse.

Katie Couric asked the ex-WH attorney if this could develop into anyone being arrested for whatever resaon. He said "No, we had firm intelligence on Padilla" to which Couric replied, "Well sometimes they get the intel wrong, don't they?"

Padilla's attorney eventually became very impassioned about his civil rights violations and suspension of habeas corpus. You could see the anger in her face and fear that this Administration could start doing this to anyone they deemed a "threat to national security."

Here's a link where the segment can be viewed: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/?ta=y

[Just Me]

4. We have legitimate fear that this administration will abuse rights,...

,...since they have acted in numerous tyrannical ways already.

They have abused laws, the constitution and the trust of the American people. Why should we believe they wouldn't abuse the authority they have stealthily usurped? They have already abused their authority!!!

[Ilsa]

6. This was the first interview and discussion

on this I've seen in at least a year, while Padilla rots in jail. I have no idea whether he is innocent or guilty. But the idea that the govt can lock someone up indefinitely is so contrary to everything the US stands for. People should be afraid, but they won't be until it happens to someone they know.

[DaveSZ]

5. There was a little ornery man who once lived in Germany.

Nobody took him seriously until it was too late.

[opihimoimoi]

7. There will come a time when we regret this

when one or more of our citizens are thrust into a similar situation....under another govt...........

?What we going do now Pueo"

[hang a left]

8. Actually these cases that will be decided upon by July will

truly be the defining moments for democracy in this country. They will have the power to declare anyone an enemy combatant. That could mean ordinary American citizens who protest war, abortion rights, US domestic, or foreign policy. Anyone who doesn't agree and is vocal about it and tries to draw attention to their causes, could be deemed an enemy combatant.

I've read a few articles about prison camps in this country and looked at some pictures from some websites. If this is not just foil, then all they need is a little help from the Supremes, and they already have the infrastructure to "house" these combatants.

Also going one step further. They could start any war they wanted, regardless of public sentiment. Anyone who causes any trouble whatsoever could be hauled away. They will only tolerate cooperative citizens.

:scared:

edited for an is.....I should proof-read

[opihimoimoi]

9. The American Gulag??? Who woulda thought??

Come, we think of a way outta this mess.