At the heart of it …
No matter what egregious topics we discuss here, to my mind they take a second place in importance to the restoration of habeas corpus — without habeas, we might as well be a banana republic. There can be no compromise.
Here are reads regarding new attention on this problem, and an invitation from the ACLU to join them on June 26th in WaDC to demonstrate and meet with representatives.
Jude
Senate Judiciary Committee Votes to Restore Habeas
People For the American Way
For Immediate Release: 6/7/2007
Committee Passes Legislation to Restore “The Great Writ” to Guantanamo Prisoners
The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act, legislation that would allow prisoners to ask a judge to review the legality of their detentions through a writ of habeas corpus. The right of habeas corpus has existed for centuries to protect individuals from wrongful detentions by the executive, but has been trampled by the Bush administration under the leadership of Alberto Gonzales and Donald Rumsfeld.
People For the American Way president Ralph G. Neas issued the following statement:
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“The restoration of habeas is a moral and patriotic course of action that helps restore our constitutional system of checks and balances; it’s a shame that it apparently took a change in partisan control of the Senate to move this forward. It’s about time that the Senate took this action to check this blatant abuse of power by the Bush Administration. The attack on habeas corpus was an attack on the most basic right of individuals in a free society, and the most fundamental check on the governmental abuse of power.
“President Bush has done his best to inflame fears and convince us that those held at Guantanamo present an imminent threat to our county. But there must be some fundamentally fair process to identify those who have been justly detained while protecting the rights of innocent people caught up in the conflict and confusion of war.”
“Our nation is a nation of laws—laws to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. When the government begins to ignore those laws, the rights of all are in peril.
“Both houses of Congress should immediately pass legislation to restore habeas corpus.”
Restoring America’s Standing in the World and Security Begins with Restoring Constitution, Habeas Corpus
Chris Dodd, HuffPo
June 7, 2007
This week, two military judges dismissed charges against a Canadian and a Yemeni detained at Guantanamo Bay, ruling that their war-crimes trials cannot move forward, throwing the entire military commissions process and those being held under it into question.
At issue in these cases is not simply whether Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan are “lawful” or “unlawful” enemy combatants as the judges have determined. Rather, what is at stake is whether America stands for what is right or what is wrong - whether we stand for justice that secures America or vengeance that weakens us. What is at stake is the rule of law, America’s moral authority and their vital connection to America’s security.
Indeed, one of the saddest days in my 26-year career in the Senate occurred last fall when the Congress passed the Military Commissions Act (MCA), allowing evidence obtained through torture to be admitted into evidence, denying individuals the right to counsel, the right to invoke the Geneva Conventions. Indeed, with passage of the MCA, Congress removed the single most important and effective safeguard of liberty man has known:
The right of habeas corpus, permitting prisoners to be brought before court to determine whether their detainment is lawful.
In removing habeas corpus protections, the MCA affirmed vengeance as a tool in fighting terrorism - discarding sixty years of precedent and respect for the rule of law.
My father served as Executive Trial Counsel under Chief Prosecutor and Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals, which set a high standard for moral authority and rule of law in the 20th Century. Trials were far from the obvious choice following World War Two and the extermination of 10 million people - and vengeance was an understandable reaction.
Churchill wanted to promptly shoot the Nazi leaders. Stalin wanted show trials - and then to shoot them. And many legal scholars argued there was no court or precedent under which to try them.
The parallels with the situation we find ourselves in today are chilling - today we see an Administration that too often uses the law and its advocates not to uphold justice but to undermine it, enlisting attorneys to weaken laws and agencies that protect citizens here at home and our men and women in uniform abroad.
Let there be no doubt that Mr. Khadr, Mr. Hamdan and their fellow detainees are accused of serious crimes - crimes they might well be guilty of.
Yet once again, we should reject the certainty of execution and incarceration for uncertainty of the rule of law and justice.
Why? Because America has always stood for something more and our ability to lead reflected it. Based on our moral leadership, we were able to forge alliances and respect around the world, that in turn helped to secure the nation.
Indeed, the subjugation of habeas and the use of torture make us weaker as a nation, not stronger.
America can lead again, but we must restore our moral authority. That is why I introduced the Restoring the Constitution Act (RCA). By insisting that suspected terrorists will be treated consistent with norms of our national law and the Geneva Conventions, to which we remain a signatory, we can protect our national security while upholding the international credibility so critical to securing America.
In the coming weeks I will be making a major push to bring the RCA to the floor of the United States Senate for a vote. To do that we need enough votes to pass the bill in the Senate Armed Services Committee. My good friend Senator Carl Levin has shown remarkable leadership as the Democratic Chairman of the Committee and has a long record of distinguished service in the Senate. But he alone cannot bring this bill to the full Senate, and bringing the RCA to a vote in Committee without the votes will unfortunately not advance our cause. That is why I need your help - making your voice heard by all members of the committee, Republican and Democrat alike. With your help I know we can get the votes to restore America’s moral authority in the world.
It’s time we stand up and say once and for all that the choice between vengeance and insecurity is a false choice - that American leadership ought to draw strength from not our worst fears but our highest ideals. In the end, we serve not only the interest of justice, but also the long term interests of the United States.
Justice Jackson said of Nuremberg, “To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well.” If we fail to rise to this moment, I fear we will be drinking from that chalice for many years to come.
Here’s what you can do today to help restore the Constitution:
Watch my video discussing the bill and upload your own explaining why you believe America is most secure when we draw strength from our highest ideals, not our worst fears — add the tag “restoringtheconstitution” and we’ll add your videos to http://restore-habeas.org.
Visit http://restore-habeas.org to sign up as a citizen co-sponsor to the Restoring the Constitution Act. Follow updates on the legislation’s progress at http://chrisdodd.com/blog.
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blogger response:
2. sheila
First of all, thank you for stating the obvious - we have (trolls aside) been literally and figuratively grieving the end of America the Beautiful for years, although this bullshit “Military Commissions Act” was one of the all-time lows.
A few points:
You say “Let there be no doubt that Mr. Khadr, Mr. Hamdan and their fellow detainees are accused of serious crimes - crimes they might well be guilty of.” Well, one of us is getting “bad intel” again here, since very few of their fellow detainees are accused of any crimes whatsoever, and it will be a stretch if 80 of the first 500 detainees are ever actually charged with a crime.
And while we are on the subject of War Crimes, when do you plan on “bringing to justice” the numerous war criminals in your midst? Dick Cheney and his whole PNAC loony-bin who set up the “new Pearl Harbor” of 9/11 then fabricated “evidence” to invade Iraq; Paul Wolfowitz who lied about the reasons and consequences of the invasion; Donald Rumsfeld for the torture and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians; George Tenet for the illegal “extraordinary rendition” program; Halliburton, Bechtel, Blackwater, et al for war profiteerring, etc. etc. etc.
You see, War Crimes Tribunals should be available to all, not just “alien” enemy combatants, but to those who have traded in and destroyed America’s reputation and siphoned off all our hard-earned money. These murderous thieves have done FAR more to ruin the American way of life and American economy than any number of 9/11s ever could - and that’s the real terrorism.
Senate Democrats and Iraq Vets Agree On Habeas Corpus
Friday, June 08, 2007
Bob Geiger
Senator and presidential candidate Chris Dodd (D-CT) had a great column on the Huffington Post Thursday, in which he discussed his Restoring the Constitution Act (RCA) and the need to revive America’s moral authority in the world, while beginning the process of repairing a U.S. Constitution torn to shreds by the Bush administration.
“One of the saddest days in my 26-year career in the Senate occurred last fall when the Congress passed the Military Commissions Act (MCA), allowing evidence obtained through torture to be admitted into evidence, denying individuals the right to counsel, the right to invoke the Geneva Conventions,” wrote Dodd. “What is at stake is whether America stands for what is right or what is wrong - whether we stand for justice that secures America or vengeance that weakens us. What is at stake is the rule of law, America’s moral authority and their vital connection to America’s security.”
Dodd’s legislation would fully repeal the MCA by, among other things, restoring the writ of habeas corpus for individuals held in U.S. custody — which means that nobody can be held in prison indefinitely without charges based on the discretion of the Bush administration — and sharpening the definition of “unlawful enemy combatant” to include only individuals who directly participate in active combat against the United States, and those actively involved in the attacks against us on September 11.
It also mandates that the U.S. go back to adhering to Geneva Convention obligations because, as Dodd wrote “…America has always stood for something more and our ability to lead reflected it. Based on our moral leadership, we were able to forge alliances and respect around the world, that in turn helped to secure the nation.”
And Dodd, who will push to bring his legislation to the Senate floor for a vote in the coming weeks, is joined in his disdain for the MCA by none other than the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the nation’s largest group dedicated to the troops and Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In late 2006, the IAVA published a revealing analysis intended to show who in Congress truly supports the troops and, in the words of their founder, Paul Rieckhoff, “.. whose votes back up their rhetoric, and who’s just wearing an American flag lapel pin.”
The nonprofit, nonpartisan IAVA Action Fund tallied every Congressional vote cast on troops’ and veterans’ issues for the last five years, crunched the numbers and gave everyone in Congress a letter grade showing their true support for troops and military families based on those issues.
One of the pieces of legislation the IAVA took very serious issue with was the MCA or, as some simply called it, the “torture bill” passed by Congress last year, gleefully signed into law by Bush and representing to Dodd one of the worst days of his lengthy Senate career.
Support for the MCA, which the IAVA sees as bad for active duty military as well as for America’s reputation in the world, contributed to many of the “Ds” and “Fs” received by most Senate Republicans, as it was considered one of the onerous standards by which an anti-troop legislator could be judged.
Indeed, in a column last year that compared the Bush administration’s rabid quest for passage of the MCA to the medieval, 14th-century torture and killing of people accused of witchcraft, IAVA spokesman Perry Jefferies called any information obtained by torturing military detainees “unreliable and dangerous to our troops.”
“The heart and soul of our Republic is at risk in this law,” wrote Jefferies, a retired Army First Sargent who served in Iraq, about the MCA. “That will be bad for our troops who’ve been able to rely on our country - bad for our security as precious resources are devoted to chasing the wild geese torture will shake out of suspects in the know or not - and it will be especially bad for America, once land of the free and brave.”
“We are better than this and the men and women of our armed and security forces both deserve clear moral guidance that doesn’t excuse their leaders from criminal action and also works to protect them in the event of their capture. Additionally, sound American principles of justice and fairness encourage enemy combatants to capitulate, both on the battlefield and in interrogations after capture.”
Finally, Jefferies said of the MCA, “Every bit of this is fundamentally contrary to the reason that America was founded, rose to greatness, and continues today. It is a complete betrayal of our system of justice and any religious system short of devil-worship. It is disgraceful.”
Another bill on the subject, passing through the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday by an 11-8 vote, is Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007. While doing less overall than Dodd’s legislation, that measure would reverse the worst aspect of the MCA by restoring habeas corpus rights in America.
“Habeas corpus was recklessly undermined in last year’s legislation. I hope that the new Senate will reconsider this historic error in judgment and set the matter right,” said Leahy in yesterday’s hearings. “Like the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the elimination of habeas rights was an action driven by fear and another stain on America’s reputation in the world.”
And certainly, with the majority of Americans weary of the Bush administration’s trashing of our national creed, the Congress now in Democratic hands and the country’s largest Iraq-Veterans organization declaring their opposition to the downright un-American spectacle of the MCA, it looks like the dark days of that disgraceful law may be numbered.
Said Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) in yesterday’s Judiciary Committee hearings: “Whatever long-term counterterrorism strategy America pursues, it will be undermined if we fail to adhere to our longstanding American values…. we cannot begin to make a dent in terrorist recruitment and plotting worldwide without sending a clear message that the United States will adhere to the principles that make our country great.”
“It is time to start to undo the harm this legislation has caused.”
From the ACLU:
Dear Friend,
You and the ACLU are making an impact.
Yesterday, a bill to restore habeas corpus (the “Habeas Corpus Restoration Act”) made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 11-8, thanks in no small part to persistent efforts of the ACLU and concerned people like you.
Can you come to DC and help us keep the pressure on Congress to do the right thing and restore our Constitutional rights?
There are free buses departing … across America. Click here to see a list of bus departure times and cities near you.
Then, sign up to join us in Washington.
[...]
We’ll rally in Washington, meet with lawmakers, deliver our petition to Restore Our Constitutional Rights and demand change. Here’s a small sample of what you can expect:
7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. - Executive Branch Demonstration (for those already in D.C.)
9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Lobby Training (close to Upper Senate Park)
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - RALLY at Upper Senate Park
1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Storm the Hill: Lobby Meetings with Senators and Representatives
Note: Lobbying will be done in groups. All attendees are encouraged to participate!
This event is free and open to the public. However, it is important that you RSVP so we can keep you up-to-date on travel options and help arrange your meetings with Congress. If you think you might be able to go, sign up before all the spots on the buses are taken and we’ll follow up with you.
Don’t let the bus leave without you!
When you sign up, an organizer will contact you to answer any questions you may have and to confirm space on your bus, if you decide to take a bus.
Should you decide to arrange for your own transportation, we ask that you sign up so we can arrange for your participation in lobby meetings once you arrive, and to get a headcount.
This summer is about action. And on June 26th we intend to send a message loud and clear to Congress: take steps to repair six years of damage to our basic rights. We need you there to send the strongest possible message.
I can’t wait to meet you on June 26th!
Sincerely,
Jeani Murray
National Field Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office
P.S. Read about the progress towards restoring habeas corpus in yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on our findhabeas blog.
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007
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