Fwd: Article from The Moscow Times - Global Eye

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Granny Mari wrote the following comment:

 

First it was chief justice nominee John Roberts, who was already interviewing

for a high court seat when he pleased his masters by ruling that Bush had the

arbitrary power to create his own parallel justice system -- the " military

tribunals " for his Terror War captives -- and run it as he sees fit. Now comes

Judge J. Michael Luttig, appointed by Bush I and one of Bush II`s leading

candidates for the other open Supreme slot. Luttig has authored an appeals court

decision that strikes even deeper at the dying hulk of American liberty, ruling

that Bush can imprison U.S. citizens indefinitely without charge or trial. All

the Leader need do is make a bald assertion of evildoing, which the defendant is

not allowed to challenge or dispute; indeed, the captive is not even allowed to

appear in court.

 

 

 

We hope you enjoy the article!

 

Best regards,

The Moscow Times Web Staff

webstaff

 

" Global Eye "

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/story/156101/

 

 

 

Global Eye

 

The Enablers

 

By Chris Floyd

Published: September 16, 2005

 

Four years ago, the United States was hit by a terrorist attack. Three days

later, the U.S. Congress signed away the people's freedom, writing a blank check

for tyranny to a ludicrous little man installed in office after the most dubious

election in American history. Last week, the poisonous after-effects of this

abject surrender took yet another sinister turn, as Bush factotums in the courts

once again upheld the Leader's arbitrary power over the life and liberty of his

subjects.

 

The joint House-Senate resolution of Sept. 14, 2001 -- approved by a combined

vote of 518-1 -- gave President George W. Bush the most sweeping powers ever

granted an American leader. Bush was authorized to use " all necessary and

appropriate force " against any organization or individual that he alone declared

was somehow connected to the Sept. 11 attacks. His arbitrary will would be the

sole deciding factor. This timorous resolution was, in effect, a repeal of the

Magna Carta: the nobles of the land giving back hard-won rights to a harsh,

incompetent despot.

 

A few critical voices at the time -- this column among them -- noted the dangers

of this panic attack among the political elite. " We must now trust that this man

who can't hold his liquor will be able to hold near-absolute power without

getting drunk on it, " we wrote on Sept. 21, 2001. There was of course no basis

for that trust, and it was immediately betrayed. The Bush Faction seized upon

the congressional resolution as an " Enabling Act " justifying a broad range of

unconstitutional measures, including torture, kidnappings, mass roundups, secret

hearings, secret prisons, arrests without charge, indefinite detention, kangaroo

courts, " extrajudicial killings " and, finally, aggressive war.

 

In a series of secret " executive orders " and Justice Department memos, the Bush

Faction overturned the Constitution and established a new authoritarian

principle of state: The president, they said, was not bound by any domestic or

international law in his prosecution of the " war on terror. " And this " war " --

an inchoate, amorphous concept covering a multitude of sins -- was founded upon

the carte blanche of Sept. 14.

 

With Congress in headlong retreat from its responsibilities, the last bulwark

against the floodtide of junta rule is the federal courts. But these, of course,

are now packed with Bush Family retainers and Reaganite reactionaries, eager to

serve the Leader. Last week, for the second time in three months, a Bush

judicial minion under consideration for a Supreme Court post issued a key ruling

upholding the president's dictatorial powers, The Washington Post reports.

 

First it was chief justice nominee John Roberts, who was already interviewing

for a high court seat when he pleased his masters by ruling that Bush had the

arbitrary power to create his own parallel justice system -- the " military

tribunals " for his Terror War captives -- and run it as he sees fit. Now comes

Judge J. Michael Luttig, appointed by Bush I and one of Bush II's leading

candidates for the other open Supreme slot. Luttig has authored an appeals court

decision that strikes even deeper at the dying hulk of American liberty, ruling

that Bush can imprison U.S. citizens indefinitely without charge or trial. All

the Leader need do is make a bald assertion of evildoing, which the defendant is

not allowed to challenge or dispute; indeed, the captive is not even allowed to

appear in court.

 

This was the infamous case of Jose Padilla, the Chicago street punk seized in a

blaze of publicity about a " dirty bomb " plot in 2002. When the " dirty " scenario

was exposed as Bushist fantasy by U.S. intelligence, the feds then accused

Padilla of vague plans to blow up apartment buildings somewhere. Whatever.

Luttig, perhaps with judicial Valhalla in his sights, ruled that Bush could keep

Padilla -- and any other American arbitrarily designated an " enemy combatant " --

in prison, without charges or trial, for the duration of the " war on terror. "

And how long might that be? Vice President Dick Cheney told us in October 2001

that the war " may never end, at least not in our lifetime. " And the Leader

himself declared on Aug. 7, 2002: " There's no telling how many wars it will take

to secure freedom in the homeland. " Not just indefinite but infinite detention,

in other words.

 

So where did Luttig find the " authority " for this breathtaking despotism, which

far outstrips any power held by King George III, the oppressor whose

depredations sparked the American Revolution? Not in the legal code. Not in the

Constitution. Certainly not in the Magna Carta. No, he cited the trusty Enabling

Act of Sept. 14.

 

Let's not forget one salient point. The federal government already possessed

sufficient powers to find and punish all those involved in the Sept. 11 attack.

(Indeed, so draconian were the government's existing powers that Republican

leaders spent the 1990s rightly resisting Bill Clinton's attempts to expand

them.) Just a few years before, the government had tracked, arrested, tried --

in open court -- and convicted an international band of Islamic extremists who

had bombed the World Trade Center. And for decades, U.S. presidents have

launched an endless series of military incursions in the name of defending

American security.

 

Thus, the Sept. 14 resolution was not necessary for the government to respond

with " all necessary and appropriate force " to Sept. 11. However, it was

necessary -- indeed, indispensable -- for an unpopular, illegitimate regime to

put its radical agenda of military aggression, unrestricted corporate predation

and elitist rule into practice. No doubt we'll see this Enabling Act invoked

more and more as the unpopular Bushist Faction faces a rising tide of public

dissent and dissatisfaction. Padilla may soon have plenty of company in his

infinite legal limbo.

 

Annotations

 

 

Court Rules U.S. Can Indefinitely Detain Citizens in Wartime

Washington Post, Sept. 9, 2005

 

US Can Continue to Detain Citizen Without Charging Him With a Crime

San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 10, 2005

 

Appeals Court: 'Dirty Bomb' Suspect Can Be Held

USA Today, Sept. 9, 2005

 

War May Not Be Over in Our Lifetime, Says Cheney

Irish Examiner, Oct. 22, 2001

 

Panic Attack: A Blank Check for Tyranny

The Moscow Times, Sept. 21, 2001

 

Master Plan: The Rise of the Commander-in-Chief State

Empire Burlesque, July 26, 2005

 

Enabling Act

Wikipedia, Sept. 5, 2005

 

Court Rules Military Panels to Try Detainees

Washington Post, July 16, 2005

 

Dark Passage: The Bush Faction's Blueprint for Empire

Excerpt from the book, Empire Burlesque

 

Domination by Detention

Deep Blade Journal, July 16, 2005

 

Ruling Lets U.S. Restart Trials at Guantanamo

New York Times, July 16, 2005

 

Alberto Gonzales' Tortured Arguments for Reigning Above the Law

LA Weekly, Jan. 14-20, 2005

 

Torture Treaty Doesn't Bar `Cruel, Inhuman' Tactics, Gonzales Says

Knight-Ridder, Jan. 26, 2005

 

Bush Has Widened Authority of CIA to Kill Terrorists

New York Times, Dec. 15, 2002

 

Special Ops Get OK to Initiate Its Own Missions

Washington Times, Jan. 8, 2003

 

Coward's War in Yemen

Spiked, Nov. 11, 2002

 

Drones of Death

The Guardian, Nov. 6, 2002

 

Memo Regarding Presidential Executive Order on Interrogations

Federal Bureau of Investigation, May 22, 2004

 

Gonzales Excludes CIA from Rules on Prisoners

New York Times, Jan. 20, 2005

 

The Secret World of US Jails

The Observer, June 13, 2004

 

The Torture Memos: A Legal Narrative

CounterPunch, Feb. 2, 2005

 

CIA Takes on Major Military Role: 'We're Killing People!

Boston Globe, Jan. 20, 2002

 

Our Designated Killers

Village Voice, Feb. 14, 2003

 

A U.S. License to Kill

Village Voice, Feb. 21, 2003

 

CIA Weighs 'Targeted Killing' Missions

Washington Post, Oct. 27, 2001

 

US Again Uses Enemy Combatant Label to Deny Basic Rights

Human Rights Watch, June 23, 2003

 

[bush Order] Lets CIA Freely Send Suspects to Foreign Jails

New York Times, March 6, 2005

 

Review: Torture and Truth and The Torture Papers

The New Statesman, March 7, 2005

 

The Torture Papers: Full Faith and Credit of the U.S. Government

San Diego Union-Tribune, Feb. 27, 2005

 

 

 

 

http://BuzzardsRoost.aimoo.com

http://www.GranniesAgainstGeorge.us

 

 

 

 

" When the power of love becomes stronger than the love of power, we will have

peace. "

Jimi Hendrix

 

 

 

 

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