THE REAL POLITIK EDITION: ISSUE 46, VOLUME 72
LIBERTY LOVES JUSTICE
by Malik Isasis
The Republican storm has passed, but the rainbow left behind isn’t enough. It appears President-Elect Obama is picking up the pieces and recycling the same old triangulating politicians from the Clinton administration. The Democratic Party, which even on the eve of their assuming control of both houses of Congress and the White House, will let slip into the night, George W. Bush and his crimes against humanity. For the sake of bipartisanship, the Democratic Party will prove their cowardice for justice.
As Obama announced Gates, Bush’s Secretary of Defense, as his own, I’m trying real hard to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, but history doesn’t bode well because the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. So, the Democratic Party will fail us.
The Case
Under George W. Bush, the United States government has disappeared foreign nationals, and detained them outside of the United States territory in secret Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A) prisons in Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and yet unknown Eastern European countries. Read the harrowing account of Marwan Jabour, here. In these proxy prisons, prisoners are being tortured, as defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The very reason these people are being held in proxy is because the United States has laws against torture, and places like Jordan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, do not.
In a January 18, 2007 Senate Judiciary Hearing, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said to the panel of senators:
“The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn’t say that. It simply says the right shall not be suspended” except in cases of rebellion or invasion.”
Investigative journalist Robert Parry wrote in response to Gonzales’ statement that it was “one of the most chilling public statements ever made by an Attorney General.”
Habeas Corpus is a common law, which basically states that a person has a right to fight unlawful imprisonment and/or arbitrary State detention. On October 18, 2006, Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [Public Law 109-366, 120 stat. 2006] that was passed by the 109th Republican Congress. This act gave Bush the ability to call foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, “enemy combatants” and detain them indefinitely without the Writ of Habeas Corpus, the ability to address one’s imprisonment through the courts.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 laid to rest, The Posse Comitatus Act which effectively gave Bush the ability to use the U.S. military against U.S. citizens within U.S. borders. Senator John Warner, Republican added the amendment title the John Warner Defense Appropriations Act [House Resolution 5122].
Justice For All
President-Elect Obama you famously stated that a president should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, so I would expect that justice can be carried out while you are dealing with the economy, and national security.
I am an ardent supporter, however I am always and forever a supporter of Justice.
LIBERTY LOVES JUSTICE
by Malik Isasis
The Republican storm has passed, but the rainbow left behind isn’t enough. It appears President-Elect Obama is picking up the pieces and recycling the same old triangulating politicians from the Clinton administration. The Democratic Party, which even on the eve of their assuming control of both houses of Congress and the White House, will let slip into the night, George W. Bush and his crimes against humanity. For the sake of bipartisanship, the Democratic Party will prove their cowardice for justice.
As Obama announced Gates, Bush’s Secretary of Defense, as his own, I’m trying real hard to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, but history doesn’t bode well because the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. So, the Democratic Party will fail us.
The Case
Under George W. Bush, the United States government has disappeared foreign nationals, and detained them outside of the United States territory in secret Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A) prisons in Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and yet unknown Eastern European countries. Read the harrowing account of Marwan Jabour, here. In these proxy prisons, prisoners are being tortured, as defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The very reason these people are being held in proxy is because the United States has laws against torture, and places like Jordan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, do not.
In a January 18, 2007 Senate Judiciary Hearing, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said to the panel of senators:
“The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn’t say that. It simply says the right shall not be suspended” except in cases of rebellion or invasion.”
Investigative journalist Robert Parry wrote in response to Gonzales’ statement that it was “one of the most chilling public statements ever made by an Attorney General.”
Habeas Corpus is a common law, which basically states that a person has a right to fight unlawful imprisonment and/or arbitrary State detention. On October 18, 2006, Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [Public Law 109-366, 120 stat. 2006] that was passed by the 109th Republican Congress. This act gave Bush the ability to call foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, “enemy combatants” and detain them indefinitely without the Writ of Habeas Corpus, the ability to address one’s imprisonment through the courts.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 laid to rest, The Posse Comitatus Act which effectively gave Bush the ability to use the U.S. military against U.S. citizens within U.S. borders. Senator John Warner, Republican added the amendment title the John Warner Defense Appropriations Act [House Resolution 5122].
Justice For All
President-Elect Obama you famously stated that a president should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, so I would expect that justice can be carried out while you are dealing with the economy, and national security.
I am an ardent supporter, however I am always and forever a supporter of Justice.
posted by Malik Isasis at
10:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home