Before the Republican Congress takes a break, they have given President Bush and many of his minions their own break.
"..,Last week, the White House and three Republican senators announced a terrible deal on this legislation that gave Mr. Bush most of what he wanted, including a blanket waiver for crimes Americans may have committed in the service of his antiterrorism policies. Then Vice President Dick Cheney and his willing lawmakers rewrote the rest of the measure so that it would give Mr. Bush the power to jail pretty much anyone he wants for as long as he wants without charging them, to unilaterally reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, to authorize what normal people consider torture, and to deny justice to hundreds of men captured in error." (Good analysis of the "free pass" better known as the "detainee interrogation bill.")
This bill "..., simply removes a suspect's right to challenge his detention in court. This is a rule of law that goes back to the Magna Carta in 1215. That pretty much leaves the barn door open."
I asked myself if this law effects ordinary US citizens, like me. Then I remembered that I actually know someone who has been "detained" without being charged for a crime, and the answer is, "yes." A close family member was jailed before 9/11's "war on terror" while riding in a car that contained illegal drugs. Law enforcement "detained" this person for three days of questioning and then let the person go after they had gotten the information they needed, I assume. So, when the President and his republican minions beat their chests about "terrorists" and war, we need to keep in mind that "detainees" can and will be us and those we know and love.
btw, this bill does not deliver a NEW weapon into our terror warrior hands. It just relieves them of any accountability. Remember Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, secret torture "facilities" in other countries? This "weapon" has been in use since 2001 and has delivered (???) - the Bushites ain't talkin about what it's delivered. They just say "trust us" while we throw up some barbed wire to keep you sheep in line.
Torture and the suspension of basic human rights have not delivered the information to capture Osama bin Laden. It has cloned more Osamas. These terror wars and their torture tactics are increasing terror according to recent findings by the the National Intelligence Estimate, a report from U.S. intelligence agencies. Common sense would hint that torture produces more harm than good and the repugnatans should try something different - Instead....
Our elected representatives presented a slightly diluted version of what Bush has been doing all along - backdating it so he can't be prosecuted for war crimes - Bush modifies the bill to be exactly what he's doing now via his infamous "signing statements or technical clarifications" and Americans are stripped of their rights.
Now, Bush and the Congress will tell you and me, "hey, knuckleheads, these provisions are only for "illegal combatants!" Here's the new law's definition of this term:
".., By writing into law for the first time the definition of an 'unlawful enemy combatant,' the bill empowers the executive branch to detain indefinitely anyone it determines to have 'purposefully and materially' supported anti-U.S. hostilities. Only foreign nationals among those detainees can be tried by the military commissions, as they are known, and sentenced to decades in jail or put to death."
Remember attorney Brandon Mayfield, 37, a convert to Islam, who was jailed by federal authorities in Portland under the material witness statute for a flimsy fingerprint connection to the Madrid bombings. His only "purposeful and material support" was his legal work on a custody issue for Jeffrey Leon Battle, a Portland man who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for conspiring to fight against U.S. troops in Afghanistan . The Madrid police had to finally step in and tell our FBI that the print belonged to an Algerian man, not Mayfield. If not for their intervention, Mayfield might still be rotting in a detention cell. I'm sure our executive branch can use its imagination to come up with many more creative "terror ties" and protect us from, erm.... ourselves.
Meanwhile, GWB continues to blame everyone but himself for his failure to contain and eliminate terrorists. He has been given everything he's requested. (Hello - an entire Homeland Security Department, a billion US/China/Japan dollars a week, a free pass to destroy two countries, countless no bid "war" contracts for his favorite corporations) AND HE STILL CAN'T GET IT RIGHT. America is owned by the Republican party and guided by Bush-Cheney-Rummy-Frist -De Lay.... So, taking cheap shots at the minority party or the judiciary for being.... well, a minority and a judiciary is insane and bodes ill for our U.S. Constitution. This election season is going downhill fast along with America's Bill of Rights.
P.S. Get ready for the gutless Congress to rubber stamp illegal wiretaps of U.S. citizens which the Bushites have been doing for years, it seems. Our rights will be whisked away to protect these people from prosecution. Why bother? We all know the chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General, Alberto Gonsales, would never enforce the law if it impacts his boss.
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."
