S3930 - Detainee bill

[Stormieweather]

It's sad, but most Americans don't appreciate the freedoms and rights that come with citizenship in our country. They take them for granted and have no clue what it feels like to be without them. Therefore, they cannot comprehend the impact that a law such as the one under discussion here will have. They erroneously believe that it won't affect them since they are law-abiding people. It only pertains to 'those other people, the terrorists', they think.

I've lived without these freedoms. I've been held captive and assaulted with no legal recourse or escape. I've lived where it was illegal for me to drive, to own property, to hold most jobs or attend a religious meeting of any kind. I've been groped and beaten on the street simply because of what I was wearing. There was no one to appeal to, no one who cared. I had absolutely zero legal rights. As a result, I no longer take even the smallest freedom or right for granted. In that country, if you pissed off the wrong person, you could be picked up, detained and questioned. And never seen again.

Last Thursday, though, Congress' approval of the Military Commissions Act deprived America of its strongest weapon against terrorism: the moral high ground.

The act allows inhumane torture techniques by interpreting the "serious physical pain or suffering" prohibitions of the Geneva Conventions far too narrowly. To violate these new provisions, torture would have to result in "bodily injury" that has either substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, disfigurement of a serious nature (not including cuts, abrasions or bruises) or significant loss or impairment of bodily function.

This is an unreasonably low standard for human treatment and would allow most of the administration's brutal techniques to continue. Waterboarding, or tying a prisoner to a board upside-down and submerging his head underwater to simulate drowning, would still be legal. The Cold Cell, or leaving a prisoner standing naked in a cell kept at 50 degrees and periodically dousing him with cold water, would still be legal. Long Time Standing, or forcing a prisoner to stand in handcuffs with his feet shackled to an eyebolt in the floor for more than 40 hours, would still be legal. Stress Positions, or chaining a prisoner in a painful position for long periods of time, would still be legal. All of these are among the most popular Bush-approved methods currently employed by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Equally grave is the elimination of habeas corpus for aliens detained overseas. Under this act, someone at Guantanamo Bay can never get a hearing on whether he is being illegally held or whether he is being illegally treated (tortured). As long as he is not prosecuted in a military commission hearing, he can be held indefinitely, and there is no way for him to get out.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/Article...rticleID=33532


So lets think about what this bill does.

Who decides if YOU (yes, you...even an American citizen) are an unlawful combatant? - The Military

Who hears the charges? The Military

Who decides if you are telling the truth? The Military

Who is supervising the people detaining you? The Military

Who do you appeal to? No one.

Who is protecting and defending your rights? No one.

Do you notice a severe lack of checks and balances to that system?

Oh wait, this doesn't apply to you or me because we're law abiding, upright citizens and we despise terrorism. No one like us would ever get caught in a web of accusations resulting in our detainage.

Anyone wonder why this bill happens to be retroactive to 1996 specifically? Coincidentally, that is when the War Crimes Act of 1996 was signed into law.http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/h...1----000-.html. Convenient that this would cover Bush and his Military commanded actions should they be deemed to be "crimes", isn't it? This bill not only provides legal shelter for the administration, but, perhaps equally as important, retroactive moral justification for their crimes.

Stormie