Posted on 03/13/2009 2:53:25 PM PDT by Reagan 2.0
The Obama administration today showed once again that the change they seek is one of style over substance, and terminology over practice: Obama admin. to end use of term 'enemy combatant'
The Obama administration is abandoning one of President George W. Bush's key phrases in the war on terrorism: enemy combatant In court filings Friday, the Justice Department said it will no longer use the term to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Obama still asserts the military's authority to hold detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. But his Justice Department says that authority comes from Congress and the international laws of war, not from the president's own wartime power as Bush had argued.
For the last four years Obama argued that President Bush overreached his Constitutional authority in holding enemy combatants without a trial, but instead we learn today that Obama's administration is holding that Bush already had such authority due to Congress and international law. Obama's criticism of President Bush was bunk, designed to appease his stridently anti-war supporters. On some level this is good news; Obama is not suicidal, just dishonest and power-lusting.
The filing back's Bush's stance on the authority to hold detainees, even if they were not captured on the battlefield in the course of hostilities. In their lawsuits, detainees have argued that only those who directly participated in hostilities should be held.
"The argument should be rejected," the Justice Department said in its filing. "Law-of-war principles do not limit...
(Excerpt) Read more at patriotroom.com ...
Part of the ongoing suicide pact.
Backstory, more coverage:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=Enemy%20Combatant
Feel Better everyone?
What does he want to call them? Our misguided friends?
Moron!
“authority comes from Congress and the international laws of war,....”
So Bush is not a war criminal after all.
So it seems. After the fact.
Community organizers!
Allies.
Buck 0fama
The current administration is deemphasizing counter terrorism and pushing more resources into civil rights and white collar crime within the Department of Justice.
This ought to be a fun next few years!
You “naughty boys.”
“Bad, bad boys”
From now on, they will be referred to as “undocumented freedom fighters”.
I want to puke.
Zero is steadily marching backwards to Sept 10th, 2001 in his efforts to cozy up to AL-Qaeda & the Taliban.
WHAT “War on Terror”?
He is going to get millions of us killed.
“On some level this is good news; Obama is not suicidal, just dishonest and power-lusting.”
Sort of like his rhetoric about leading a filibuster against warrantless wiretapping, before later voting to grant telecomm immunity. Obama likes to bash everything as an abuse of power — until the time comes that he decides he wants that power for himself. Signing statements, anyone?
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