david's doodles

Bill of Wrongs

“It is so wrong. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American. It is designed to ensure the Bush-Cheney administration will never again be embarrassed by a United States Supreme Court decision reviewing its unlawful abuses of power.”

Those were the words of Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, speaking before Thursday’s vote on the Military Commissions Act in the Senate. The House had already passed virtually the same legislation the day before. Thursday’s vote passed the measure 65 to 34.

The act is also known as the “detainee act” or the “torture bill”. This legislation comes in the wake of a recent ruling by the Supreme Court which found that the military tribunals set up by Bush to try detainees at Guantanamo to be illegal. In considering another lawsuit, the justices asserted that detainees have the right to contest their detention in court, a right that goes back in history to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. That right, known as Habeas Corpus, has endured as the cornerstone of legal justice -- until now.

The “detainee act” has swept aside these rights. Furthermore, the bill bars legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions. By defining “illegal enemy combatant” in very broad terms, legal residents such as myself are subject to indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The label could be applied to anyone that authorities wanted. It could even apply to foreign citizens living in their own countries.

If you think that this is hyperbole, consider that one person has already been charged with aiding terrorists because he sold a satellite TV package that includes the Hezbollah network.

The issue of torture is also redefined by this bill. It allows the administration itself decide which abusive interrogation methods are permissible. What is more, his decision could remain a secret. Coerced evidence will now be permissible in court. Torture is narrowly defined, reminding us of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. For example, the bill eliminates the idea of rape as torture.

On the matter of torture, one practice deemed lawful is that of waterboarding. Well, that ghastly technique was practiced by the Khymer Rouge in Cambodia. David Corn has posted some photographs of actual waterboards used by the Khymer Rouge. You may like to take a look at DavidCorn.com.

America cannot reasonably be described as a fascist state. But this legislation takes it one dangerous step in that direction. Bush likes to equate his so-called “War on Terror” to the battle against fascism in WW II Germany-- we would do well to remember that everything that Hitler did was legal.

I’ll leave the last word to Molly Ivins:

I’d like those supporting this evil bill to spare me one affliction: Do not, please, pretend to be shocked by the consequences of this legislation. And do not pretend to be shocked when the world begins comparing us to the Nazis.