Stupid Evil Bastard: Bush’s terror detainee bill could lock up anyone, for any reason, forever.

Bush’s terror detainee bill could lock up anyone, for any reason, forever.

Posted by Les on Saturday, July 29, 2006 at 01:35 PM. Read 1240 times. Tags: blogathon 2006, blogging, church and state, politics

If this AP report on Bush’s new anti-terror legislation is correct then everyone should sit down and write their congresscritters immediately advocating it never makes it into law:

According to the draft, the military would be allowed to detain all “enemy combatants” until hostilities cease. The bill defines enemy combatants as anyone “engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners who has committed an act that violates the law of war and this statute.”

Legal experts said Friday that such language is dangerously broad and could authorize the military to detain indefinitely U.S. citizens who had only tenuous ties to terror networks like al Qaeda.

“That’s the big question ... the definition of who can be detained,” said Martin Lederman, a law professor at Georgetown University who posted a copy of the bill to a Web blog.

Scott L. Silliman, a retired Air Force Judge Advocate, said the broad definition of enemy combatants is alarming because a U.S. citizen loosely suspected of terror ties would lose access to a civilian court — and all the rights that come with it. Administration officials have said they want to establish a secret court to try enemy combatants that factor in realities of the battlefield and would protect classified information.

It sounds like if you’re even suspected of terrorist connections you could be arrested, shipped off to a detainee camp, denied access to lawyers and courts, and held indefinitely with no legal recourse. When the hell did America start heading down the path of the former Soviet Union?

Found via DailyKos who also provide us with a list of the Senators on the Armed Services Committee which I’ll replicate in the extended section.

Republicans
John Warner, Chairman (Virginia): (202) 224-2023
John McCain (Arizona): (202) 224-2235
James Inhofe (Oklahoma): (202) 224-4721
Pat Roberts (Kansas): (202) 224-4774
Jeff Sessions (Alabama): (202) 224-4124
Susan Collins (Maine): (202) 224-2523
John Ensign (Nevada): (202) 224-6244
James Talent (Missouri): (202) 224-6154
Saxby Chambliss (Georgia): (202) 224-3521
Lindsey Graham (South Carolina): (202) 224-5972
Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina): (202) 224-6342
John Cornyn (Texas): (202) 224-2934
John Thune (South Dakota): (202) 224-2321

Democrats
Carl Levin, Ranking Minority Member (Michigan): (202) 224-6221
Edward Kennedy (Massachusetts): (202) 224-4543
Robert Byrd (West Virginia): (202) 224-3954
Joe Lieberman (Connecticut): (202) 224-4041
Jack Reed (Rhode Island): (202) 224-4642
Daniel Akaka (Hawaii): (202) 224-6361
Bill Nelson (Florida): (202) 224-5274
Ben Nelson (Nebraska): (202) 224-6551
Mark Dayton (Minnesota): (202) 224-3244
Evan Bayh (Indiana): (202) 224-5623
Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York): (202) 224-4451

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Mrs SEB

Posted on 07/29/2006 at 02:17 PM

Scary Fucking Scary!

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Freedom is not worth having;
if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
- Ghandi

Bob

Posted on 07/30/2006 at 12:53 AM

When the hell did America start heading down the path of the former Soviet Union?

Haven’t you been paying attention?

When Bill was Pres, nothing much happened, thanks to Bill distracting us with his sexcapades. But when GW became Pres, he decided that the US should be more like USSR, and has done everything in his power to make it happen. He is doing a good job, but not as good as he had hoped. Did you see how mad he got when he found out that the press can report his illegal orders? Did you see how he yelled at them and told them that by reporting important news rather than keeping quite, that they were not being good patriots?

Well, we already have severe restrictions on news reporting (DMCA, and some law that says you can’t “lessen the security of a system by providing information on it"), and bribing Congressman is perfectly legal, as long as it doesn’t involve cold cash, or something like that, and this indefinitely detaining terrorists and reporters without council isn’t new, and the government is allowed to take your land at below fair value and give it to people who are richer than you, http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/23/2048223, .

This isn’t new. It is a growing trend. I blame the encouraging of idiots to vote.

JOHN HENRY

Posted on 09/28/2006 at 06:40 PM

IT ANGERS ME TO REFLECT ON THE SOLDIERS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND LATER WHO FOUGHT FOR THE PRINCIPALS OF LIMITING THE RIGHT OF THE GOVERNMENT TO DO THE THINGS THAT THIS BILL WOULD NOW ALLOW. THE BILL OF RIGHTS PROHIBITS CRUEL PUNISHMENT, GIVES THE RIGHT TO CONFRONT WITNESSES AND TO A FAIR AND SPEEDY TRIAL. THE CONSTITUTION GUARANTEES DUE PROCESS. THE COWARDS WHO SUPPORT THIS ABANDONMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION DO SO SUPPOSEDLY BECAUSE A TERRORIST RAID MIGHT RESULT IN SOME CAUSULTIES. MANY HAVE DIED FOR THESE RIGHTS AND WE NOW ABANDON THEM TO BE SAFE. THOSE WHO ABONDON OUR RIGHTS DISHONOR OUR C0NSTITUION AND OUR PRIOR WAR DEAD. THIS GOVERNMENT IS THE TRAITOR.

JumpOutOfTheHandbasket

Posted on 09/30/2006 at 02:28 AM