U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill.
A 32-page draft measure is intended to authorize the Pentagon's tribunal system, established shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to detain and prosecute detainees captured in the war on terror. The tribunal system was thrown out last month by the Supreme Court.
Administration officials, who declined to comment on the draft, said the proposal was still under discussion and no final decisions had been made.
Senior officials are expected to discuss a final proposal before the Senate Armed Services Committee next Wednesday.
This is the work of a police state, something tinhorn dictators to absolutist tyrants would dream up -- and would allow all manner of abuse.
President Bush’s penchant for writing exceptions to laws he has just signed violates the Constitution, an American Bar Association task force says in a report highly critical of the practice.
The ABA group, which includes a one-time FBI director and former federal appeals court judge, said the president has overstepped his authority in attaching challenges to hundreds of new laws.
The latest service member to be dismissed makes the number of soldiers trained to be Arab linguists and now fired for being gay 55. This dismissal even violated the basic rules of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," because the individual was closeted at work and was outed by an anonymous email campaign:
The U.S. Army recently discharged a highly regarded Arabic linguist who was the target of an anonymous email "outing" campaign. Former Sergeant Bleu Copas was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and was a member of the prestigious 82nd Airborne Division. A decorated Sergeant who received impressive performance reviews, Copas also performed in the 82nd Airborne Chorus. His dismissal, under the federal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel, brings the total number of Arabic language specialists dismissed under the ban to at least 55. Neither Copas nor his command know who was the source of the email campaign.
We really aren't serious about winning this war, are we?
It's not a joke, it's reality. Thanks to Josh Marshall here is the video of Bush's partly incoherent, partly fictional, partly fascist, fully rambling answer -- full of tired false cliches. It's not really funny, it is just sad -- for all of us.
