Our dictator has signed new legislation today. The Supreme Court ruled in June that military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay violated US and international law. No problem! Let's have the Ministry of Justice update the law to suit our current needs, shall we?
The BBC reports that the new law "gives the president the authority to decide which other techniques interrogators can use. The law does not require that detainees be granted legal representation. It also bars non-US citizens from filing habeas corpus petitions challenging their detentions in federal court. [...] There are about 450 detainees at Guantanamo, according to the Bush administration."
Hmmm... I wonder if that number is accurate?
Reuters says "The Military Commissions Act of 2006 sets standards for interrogating suspects, but through a complex set of rules that human rights groups say could allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia [...] The new law means Bush can continue a secret CIA program for interrogating terrorism suspects whom he believes have vital information that could thwart a plot against America [...] It establishes military tribunals that would allow some use of evidence obtained by coercion."
Um... HE believes???
This pales in comparison to the rights violations of American citizens here at home. Hey, girl, time to open those eyes!
4 comments:
When will it stop? Not until we get a new (and I'm sure it would have to be a Dem) president. The founding fathers must be rolling in their graves.
What I find really disturbing is the lawyer who successfully challenged the military tribunals has now been passed over for an apparently well deserved promotion and is will now have to leave the military.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15189555/
2 years have never seemed like such a long time.
There are days when I wonder about our government. Then I look at what's happening elsewhere in the world:-
Burma/Myanmar
Sudan
US
& I know that I'm still living in the best place!
Hmmm.... perhaps we ARE living in the best place (I would argue against that). But it's all realtive. Just because there are worse places, doesn't mean we should shrug our shoulders to what's wrong with THIS country's government.
Post a Comment