Wascawy wibewals were right again
A federal appeals court in the 4th circuit has ruled that George Bush can't simply declare a US resident an "enemy combatant" and then lock him up forever without a trial.
The first surprise is that Bush lost .. this is the most conservative appellate court in the country.
'Disastrous Consequences for the Constitution'
"Using piercing language throughout the opinion, the court wrote, "The president cannot eliminate constitutional protections with the stroke of a pen by proclaiming a civilian, even a criminal civilian, an enemy combatant subject to indefinite military detention.
"Put simply, the Constitution does not allow the president to order the military to seize civilians residing within the United States and detain them indefinitely without criminal process, and this is so even if he calls them 'enemy combatants,'" the opinion continued.
The opinion stated that the sanctioning of such presidential power "would have disastrous consequences for the Constitution — and the country."
Hard to think of anything that draws a finer line between the rule of law and fascism.
I want George Bush, and all who support him and his policies, to explain why the American justice system isn't capable of handling a few bad terrorists? I mean, we give a lawyer and a jury trial and appeals to mass-murderers like Timothy McVeigh, to traitors who spied on our country for the Soviets, and to men who tried to kill the president, etc. etc. etc.
I can't believe that America's justice system and America's freedoms aren't up to the task when it comes to terrorists.
As Colin Powell noted last weekend on Meet The Press, no one has given a very good explanation for why our tried and true, time-honored, system of justice supposedly falls short when the bad guy is named Osama or Ahmed?
"I would close Guantanamo — not tomorrow, this afternoon. I’d close it. And I’d not let any of those people go. I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system. The concern was, well, then they’ll have access to lawyers, then they’ll have access to writs of habeas corpus. So what? Let them. Isn’t that what our system’s all about? .... I would get rid of Guantanamo and I’d get rid of the military commissions system, and use established procedures in federal law or in the manual for courts martial.[..]"
Where was Powell's tough talk against the Bushies when it would have counted?
Not too long ago Colin Powell was described as the most trusted man in American politics. Then he caved and was the chief salesman of the decision to invade and occupy Iraq.
So why is he trying to rehabilitate his credibility now? Where was that kind of moral authority when the country needed it?
