Instead...
Today (oct 17th), 135 years to the day after the last American President (Ulysses S. Grant) suspended habeas corpus, President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006. At its worst, the legislation allows President Bush or Donald Rumsfeld to declare anyone — US citizen or not — an enemy combatant, lock them up and throw away the key without a chance to prove their innocence in a court of law. In other words, every thing the Founding Fathers fought the British empire to free themselves of was reversed and nullified with the stroke of a pen, all under the guise of the War on Terror.
4 comments:
Amazing! Just when I thought that last clip of his was good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus#Suspension_in_the_United_States_during_the_War_on_Terrorism
On 29 September 2006, the U.S. House and Senate approved the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a bill which would suspend habeas corpus for any alien (noncitizen) determined to be an "unlawful enemy combatant engaged in hostilities or having supported hostilities against the United States"[2][3] by a vote of 65-34. (This was the result on the bill to approve the military trials for detainees; an amendment to remove the suspension of habeas corpus failed 48-51.[4]) President Bush signed the Military Commissons Act of 2006 into law on October 17, 2006.
Regardless of what some say.. the word 'alien' should exempt citezens.
in the same Wiki entry that you quote from though there are some legal experts saying this:
"Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman states in the L.A. Times , "The compromise legislation....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."
Similarly, law Professor Marty Lederman explains : "this [subsection (ii) of the definition of 'unlawful enemy combatant'] means that if the Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to 'hostilities' at all."
.......
and Steve points out this entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Commissions_Act_of_2006#Applicability_to_U.S._Citizens
So, the question is...how hard would it be for this tiny line to be crossed and excused after the fact? remember, the whole 'reason' behind this is to make us Safer...what if they just say they had to make the US safer from some of its own citizens?
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