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Thursday, September 28, 2006
U.S. May Legislate Illegal Detainment and Torture The bill, as written would allow, the executive branch to hold any lawful immigrant in the U.S. indefinitely without charge. The amendment introduced by Senator Arlen Specter would have “guaranteed to non-American citizens who are held as unlawful enemy combatants the right to appeal their detention in federal court” in the case that they were detained illegally or mistakenly. The bill now contains no such guarantee. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who was one of the bill’s authors, has stated that allowing habeus corpus appeals “impedes the war effort” by allowing for “irresponsible” litigation that undermines the military. Basically, what the administration is saying is that they don’t have time or patience to determine if detainees are actually terrorists or not. Never mind that the U.S. has been making mistakes since the beginning of the war in who it has detained and interrogated, including torturing a German student because his name was similar to a known terrorist. It is too much of a hassle to separate the innocent from the guilty. It works for the administration though, because embarrassing lawsuits for illegal detainment or deprivation of liberty will be muffled. Suddenly the government can never be wrong about whom it imprisons and if it is, no one will know until it is too late. Adding further insult to the grievous injustice, the bill will allow for seizure of evidence in the U.S. without a search warrant, evidence obtained through cruel and inhumane treatment to be presented in court, government-sanctioned mistreatment of detainees, and denying relief through appeal for those who insist on their innocence after conviction. The Republican Party is already using the bill as a political tool against the Democrats, with Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio stating “It is outrageous that House Democrats… continue to oppose giving President Bush the tools he needs to protect our country.” Unfortunately, the tools President Bush and his administration are seeking to use are against the constitution and counter to the fundamental values this country was based on. No one is above the law, not the President, not the House or the Senate, or the soldiers, officers, and guards who are doing the interrogating and imprisoning. This sets a bad precedent for future international interactions. What if these same tools were utilized by opposing forces detaining U.S. soldiers and citizens, in this war or any future wars? Surely the administration would sound the alarms if that sort of treatment was directed towards our own people. Our moral credibility in the world has already all but been destroyed. This piece of questionable legislature will further tarnish international relations and may cause other countries to further believe the U.S. isn’t serious about the rights of prisoners of war. It is possible to be tough on terrorism without breaking both national and international laws. However, it seems that the looming mid-term elections have the Republicans running scared to keep their seats. They have not realized this is exactly the type of behavior and legislation that generated Republican backlash in the first place. Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Samantha Quinnsbury at 3:38 PM |
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