By Tan Copsey
As much as anything else this piece is also intended to provide a selection of links to excellent writing and clips on these events and the broader topic. This is a situation where you must read as much as possible, especially if you are a citizen of the United States. Please, please post comments with links to other sources of information I have missed.
Despite some mild internal dissent and one or two strong Democrat voices, the Military Commission Act of 2006 (S. 3930) was signed into law by President Bush yesterday. This was a very dark day for American Democracy.
The law gives the President of the United States the right to declare anyone an enemy combatant. Any person can be imprisoned without trial, and tried by an appointed tribunal without seeing all the information presented to jurors. That person can be denied a fair defence against charges that could result in their execution. That person can be tortured. Whilst the cynical amongst us might note that the US Government has been using these and similar practises for a considerable amount of time, what must be emphasised is that all of this is now legal.
To repeat, anyone can be classified an enemy combatant. Its not just innocent Afghani’s and Iraqi’s who will suffer; you could face this scenario, as could I.
Legal Scholar Bruce Akerman noted the act ‘authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights.
The question now is whether this will remain law. The trials of suspected enemy combatants had previously been impeded by the Supreme Court, which had declared that the military commission assembled to try Salim Ahmed Hamdan, ‘lacks power to proceed’. It is unclear whether the Supreme Court would rule this way again. Broadcaster Keith Olbermann. and Legal Scholar Johnathan Turley speculated that any possible decision would likely rest of the vote of a single justice, Anthony M. Kennedy. It is therefore quite possible that these measures will be endorsed by the Court, when it is eventually forced to rule on this matter. In the mean time we are faced with the frightening prospect of having to rely on the good judgement of ‘the decider’, one George W. Bush.
‘See you in Gitmo’.
Elsewhere: To see who voted for and against this Bill in both the house and the senate, perhaps with a view to punishing them accordingly see this site. Kos has another collection of links which also refers to Olbermann’s interview with Ashcroft. Full background info can be found here. Amnesty resource, including a letter to President Bush. An interesting Blog response.
