Oh, THAT Old Thing!
Sep 18th, 2006 at 9:17 pm by Susie
You know that McCain-Graham bill, the “reasonable” one?
It suspends habeas corpus. You know, the hallmark of our “free” society?
Click here to help.
Let’s be very clear. The McCain Graham Warner Bill will suspend habeas corpus for these detainees. It will allow the US to hold these prisoners indefinately without compelling them to be put on trial. It will bar these prisoners from any legal recourse for actions against their treatment including torture.
This bill should be titled the John McCain Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Torture Program, because, while maintaining the current interpretation of the Geneva Conventions, it bars victims of torture from any recourse.
When McCain says he can accomplish the same thing as the Bush approach without reinterpreting the Geneva Conventions, he is talking about revoking habeas corpus.
The American people are being presented a false choice. Both the Bush and McCain bills will not end torture by the US. They will BOTH effectively legalize it.
The question that this country has to ask is: “Are these times so dire that we need to throw away the cornerstone of US liberty and justice? Are we in such danger and do we trust this President so much, that we are willing to topple more than seven hundred years of hard won human rights and hand these protections over to him?”
Nine former federal judges sent a letter to Congress detailing their opposition to the legislation:
For two hundred years, the federal judiciary has maintained Chief Justice Marshall’s solemn admonition that ours is a government of laws, and not men. The proposed legislation imperils this proud history by abandoning the Great Writ to the siren call of military necessity. We urge you to remove the provision stripping habeas jurisdiction from the proposed Military Commissions Act of 2006 and to reject any legislation that deprives the federal courts of habeas jurisdiction over pending Guantanamo detainee cases.
[...] I don’t have time for an extended post, but please read this: Judges Tell Congress: Don’t Suspend Habeas Corpus (via Susie). [...]
Here’s the thing… they want to try these people with evidence used against them that the defendants can’t see, much less rebuke. Why?
Because they’re terrorists, they answer, and we can’t give them access to classified information. But if they are terrorists, what’s the point of the trial to prove they’re terrorists in the first place? Isn’t the point of the trial to prove that they’re terrorists?
Why is this administration so afraid of the law and the Judical branch? Isn’t it just at all possible that the Judical branch is right, and the Bush Administration is wrong? Or has President (Cheney) Bush been listening to Yoo for too long?