How the US Lost the War on Terror - Friday, October 20, 2006

First, I'd like to thank the one guy who really made this possible: George W. Bush. Due to your brilliant single-mindedness, you killed America. Years from now, the tragedy of Bush's reign won't be September 11, but the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This little piece of legislation managed to kill the nearly 800 year tradition of habeas corpus, or the right to know why you are in jail.
Habeas corpus was established by the Magna Carta in 1215. Since then, (nearly) every arrest in England, America, and many other countries have required a reason behind them. Yes, there were times when this was trampled on, but this was in times of all out war or insurrection (or perhaps a brutal leader). It is, just as much as anything else, the very foundation of all of our rights. Without habeas corpus, there are no laws, just general guidelines that the leader can overturn at will. Since the writing of the Constitution, habeas corpus has only been suspended twice: by Abraham Lincoln in Maryland during the Civil War and by Grant in South Carolina. What's the difference from now? Both of these times, it was legal. The Constitution grants the right to suspend habeas corpus during times of insurrection (the two listed) and invasion. Mind telling me who is revolting and/or invading?
Why would any law be passed that is completely unconstitutional? To protect us, of course! You see, habeas corpus is only suspended for 'enemy combatants.' That doesn't seem too bad, until you read their definition of 'enemy combatant' and realize that, surprise, a presidentially hand picked tribunal decides if you are a combatant or not. This alone directly steps all over the the fifth and sixth amendments and indirectly erases nearly all of the rest of the Bill of Rights off the board. Whats the point of free speech when you can be arrested for anything you say. No exaggeration there:

Sec. 950iii. Contempt

`A military commission under this chapter may punish for contempt any person who uses any menacing word, sign, or gesture in its presence, or who disturbs its proceedings by any riot or disorder.

Thats right, you know longer have the freedom of speech.

When I first heard about this bill, I thought that it was an over reaction. Surely such a bill could make it through Congress, let alone not even be challenged by the Supreme Court, but it has.

Surely this cannot get any worse, right? Wrong. Torture was also legalized. While not directly stating this directly, the law allows physical and mental harm to be induced during interrogation up to organ failure. Hmmm, that's commonly known as torture, and it happens to be against the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, not to mention countless other treaties which we happen to be signatories of. Best example: waterboarding, a form of torture simulating drowning, was considered a serious war crime in World War II. A congressman (Ted Kennedy, I believe) specifically asked that at least this one specific thing is outlawed, but somehow it never made it in there. What a shame, huh?

The list goes on and on. This law is a blatant attack on our rights as Americans and as human beings. Are we going to take this sitting down? In order to defeat evil, be have become it. As Benjamin Franklin once spoke, "those willing to give up a little bit of their freedom for a little bit of security deserve neither and will lose both." We are losing both...