Posted on 04/18/2010 7:09:37 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) has introduced a bill that would allow the President to imprison an unlimited number of American citizens (as well as foreigners) indefinitely without trial. Known as The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010, or S. 3081, the bill authorizes the President to deny a detainee a trial by jury simply by designating that person an “enemy belligerent.”
The bill, which has eight cosponsors, explicitly names U.S. citizens as among those who can be detained indefinitely without trial:
An individual, including a citizen of the United States, determined to be an unprivileged enemy belligerent ... may be detained without criminal charges and without trial for the duration of hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners in which the individual has engaged, or which the individual has purposely and materially supported, consistent with the law of war and any authorization for the use of military force provided by Congress pertaining to such hostilities. [Emphasis added.]
Note that the Bush administration once said that the so-called “war on terror” would last a generation or more, and the U.S. military has officially classified many former Guantanamo detainees, such as England's Tipton Three, as having “returned to the battlefield” for merely granting an interview for the movie The Road to Guantanamo. Another five innocent Uighur (Ethnic Turkish Muslims from China) detainees had been listed as having “returned to the battlefield” after their release because their lawyer had written an op-ed protesting their prolonged detention without trial after they had been mistakenly picked up by a greedy bounty hunter. Writing an opinion or speaking an opinion against the party in power in Washington can — and already has — made some people “enemy belligerents.”
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that “No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” and the Sixth Amendment stipulates the due process of law that all are required to receive:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
The requirement for a jury trial has no exceptions for military reasons, and doesn't even exempt foreigners. It simply employs the phrase “all criminal prosecutions,” words that unequivocally apply to the military and civilian justice systems, as well as to both citizens and foreigners. The Founding Fathers truly applied Christ's command to “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you,” but John McCain's new bill wouldn't even do to American citizens what we would assume were basic rights. There is no greater tyranny than indefinite imprisonment at the whim of an executive without legal recourse, and that is precisely what McCain and eight other senators would impose upon America.
McCain defended his bill in a speech on the Senate floor March 4, stating:
The legislation would authorize detention of enemy belligerents without criminal charges for the duration of the hostilities consistent with standards under the law of war which have been recognized by the Supreme Court. Importantly, if a decision is made to hold a criminal trial after the necessary intelligence information is obtained, the bill mandates trial by military commission where we are best able to protect U.S. national security interests, including sensitive classified sources and methods, as well as the place and the people involved in the trial itself.
In other words, the right to trial by jury guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution would no longer be a right. The bill would mandate “military commissions” rather than a jury trial, if and when the President deems to hold a “trial.” Under McCain's legislation, trial by jury wouldn't just be a privilege that the President could withdraw at a whim, the President would be required to deny jury trials. The right to trial by jury would be denied entirely! Of course, any American could be held for decades without trial or even being charged with a crime under McCain's bill.
Cosponsors of the bill include Democrat/independent Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Republicans Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, David Vitter of Louisiana, George LeMieux of Florida, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Those cosponsoring this outright attack on the Bill of Rights are those same Republican neo-conservatives who have dominated the GOP for the last decade or more. Conservative constitutionalists need to reassert control of the Republican Party and purge this cancer from the party and the U.S. Senate, if they wish to retain their freedoms.
There’s no way this could go wrong. [face-palm]
That is vague enough to cover literally anything. Imagination is the only limit.
This should once and for all finish McCain’s chances of reelection. It’s almost like he’s begging to be defeated.
May your chains rest lightly.
I don’t know...if it’s limited to US citizens caught on foreign battlefields, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Muslim fanatics coming into its scope. However, if it includes citizens incarcerated within the US, then I really fear we are close to the precipice. There’s a reason McCain/Feingold was overturned by the SCOTUS - is McCain up to his old anti-constitutional tricks?
You need a mental health exam stat!
Better read it again! We need JD elected and I would call having McCain there a crisis!
bfl
Precisely.
And with this regime, their imagination is extremely dangerous.
I still do not see how the bill can be Constitutional if an American citizen is denied his rights.
I also did not care for the section about the “coalition partners” and that acts against them are covered as well.
If CW2 or AR2 breaks out, and Zero brings in NATO ground forces or UN blue helmets, any act against them will trigger use of this proposed Act.
We are heading toward a massive reset of the American experiment.
A “John Birch Society” publication?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Precisely! The New American is THE publication of the John Birch Society:
"In addition to political topics, The New American also publishes articles about economics (from a free-enterprise perspective of course!), culture, and history. It is published by American Opinion Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of The John Birch Society".
plenty of THOSE waiting.
Tea Partiers will be the “beligerent” threats eventually, you KNOW it.
McCain’s a progressive moron, but holding an enemy prisoner of war without trial for the duration of hostilities is the norm within the international law of warfare. In fact, if the enemy is an illegal combatant, he can be executed (but, I believe some sort of trial is required before doing so).
It seems to me that McCain may be discovering the international law of warfare, which he didn’t seem to understand during Bush’s administration.
I expected it in that case anyway. Martial law would take care of the BoRs. My answer to that is Live Free or Die.
RINOs of a feather hang together.
Consider the source of this info. It’s John Birch tin foil hat crapola.
“enemy belligerent”
An enemy belligerent is anyone the PTB decides it is.
Just say NO!
“This should once and for all finish McCain’s chances of reelection.”
We’ve thought and said that at least a dozen times over one boneheaded move of his or the other. But instead this thread is full of people complaining that it was even posted. The legislation may have merit, it will take study, but I wouldn’t give extra powers to this president on anything.
Heads back in the sand people!
Something that clearly does not apply to one Sarah Palin, despite her disgusting "loyalty" to the clearly disloyal skunk McCain.
...maybe he can have it all subcontracted to the North Vietnamese
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