Truth Must Count.

[elfs]

In the history lessons I learned as a small child, I learned that the United States penal code derived from English penal code, which in turn had evolved to meet the needs of a people with an diverse collection of origins and an equally diverse range of religious viewpoints. One of the key outcomes of this chaotic process was the Magna Carta which, in contrast to the French penal code, required that the State declare its clear purpose and accountability in holding someone a prisoner.

We inherited that system. It lives in our Constitution. Article I, Section 9:

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

This isn't even in the Bill of Rights, this is more fundamental: this is an order to Congress by the founders of our country. (Nobody better give me the bullshit that the attack of 9/11 or the potential presence of terrorist sleeper cells constitutes an "invasion".)

When Richard Epstein testified before Congress, he said

At stake is the fundamental right of any prisoner to test the lawfulness of his detention. Truth must count. Innocence must matter. An optional system of limited judicial review sidesteps both. Only habeas corpus can meet the need. To strip the federal courts of habeas jurisdiction for individuals captured in the war on terror would tear a hole in a fundamental guarantee of liberty. Unless we remain true to our own constitutional tradition, our efforts to advance the cause of freedom will be seen a cynical exercise in hypocrisy.

[Emphasis mine.] The world now knows: America has no principles. We have abandoned them. In the quest for "a little safety," we have given our President (and he is ours, no matter how much in our hearts we may believe otherwise) the power to declare someone an "unlawful enemy combatant," a phrase that will go down in history as a synonym for "enemy of the People," and disappear that person.

Forever.

Anyone.

That includes you, Mr. American Citizen. Section (iii) includes "any person who has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a competent tribunal established by the President of the United States." No safeguards. No oversight. No alternative route of appeal. The president's star chamber and out. Your likely destination, if you remain in the country at all, is Wallabout Bay Military Prison in South Carolina, where over 10,000 Americans died during the Revolutionary War, held in squalid, fetid conditions by British soldiers.

We have allowed our Senators and Congressmen to legalize indefinite and incognito detainment. This cannot stand. Please, if you have the power to vote, do so. Come November, get someone-- anyone-- running who has sworn to return our government to its principles, and get them elected.

Which principles? Start with this one:

Trial by jury is the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.
-- Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Thomas Paine 1789

This sickens my soul this day. My beloved nation is no longer.

Comments

[irismoonlight.livejournal.com]

Concise and passionate. I agree. May I link to this?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Go ahead. I'm not saying anything that a thousand other bloggers, many far more eloquent than I, have been saying for days.

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

I think it's likely to get still worse before getting better. However, I still have faith in our country, I still have faith that eventually enough people will stand up saying "no more" to make a difference again, I still have faith in this country's founding principals, and, yes, I still have faith in the system.

It's going to be rough, we have a fight on many fronts, but we can free our country again.

Keep writing. Your skill in that makes you one of our most powerful warriors in this.

[fallenpegasus]

So how did we handle this issue in our past wars?

[mo-hair.livejournal.com]

how? we relocated japanese residents and japanese american citizens to camps in WWII (notably, german and italian americans were NOT classified as member of an enemy race, instead roosevelt praised their "loyalty" to the country.) similar to our present situation, there was some intelligence that pointed to sleeper cells within the u.s., as well as well placed enemy operatives. i think wiki might have some thing these decrypted communications.

said justice tom c. clark in regards to the relocations: "The truth is—as this deplorable experience proves—that constitutions and laws are not sufficient of themselves...Despite the unequivocal language of the Constitution of the United States that the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, and despite the Fifth Amendment's command that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, both of these constitutional safeguards were denied by military action under Executive Order 9066."

i must believe that if we survived that ugly period of american hsitory, then we will survive this one as well.

[ibsulon.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, this isn't the one I'm most concerned about. After all, we had internment camps just over half a century ago, and Habeas Corpus has been suspended before.

It's torture that really bugs me. It bothers me that the "compromise" allows the executive branch to interpret torture.

These are people who have not problem with waterboarding, for crying out loud!

[mo-hair.livejournal.com]

the torture issues bugs me the most as well. we cannot deny others the right to act in ways we permit ourselves. these changes to the interpretation of geneva convention are hypocritcal and, i believe, harm our future interests. we can't further the interest of freedom and democracy by curtailing it ourselves.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I disagree. Habeas corpus is a bigger issue than torture. With habeas corpus in place, we would have the knowledge and therefore the responsibility to respond to torture if and when our government committed torture.

Instead, our congresswretched have said, with the passage of this bill, that what America really wants, in its heart of hearts, is to turn away from its moral responsibility, to be blind to it, and to live on as if it didn't care.

I do care.

[rhonan.livejournal.com]

Thank you, very well said.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

or the potential presence of terrorist sleeper cells "sleeper cells" my ass!

One of my many cousins works for a collection agency. As you may know, members of these "sleeper" cells would run up very high credit card bills, then not pay. They were, "goin' to Allah and the 73 virgins," so in their minds, why bother?

In response to one of the "you are past due on your account" nastygrams, my cousin received an anti-American screed that did everything but state the attack target and date. Naturally, she showed this to her manager. The two of them then, naturally, contacted the FBI. All of this was in early 2001.

So, this whole idea of "sleeper cells" hidden in your community — look out! your neighbor might be a terrrist — is complete and utter bullsh@#%. They were doing a very poor job of hiding themselves. The government was just doing an even poorer job of paying attention.