Who Made George W. Bush Our King?He Can Designate Any of Us an Enemy Combatant

The Village Voice ^ | July 25, 2003 | Nat Hentoff

[theoverseer]

GO NAT GO!

Tell those who are destroying our civil liberties for "security" the true dangers of what they propose.

[jimkress]

Didn't hear any of this whining when Clinton was having citizens arrested for yelling at him or when he was murdering innocent Americans.

Hypocrisy is a terrible thing.

[Satadru]

Wait till gun rights advocates and pro-lifers start to get classified as enemy combatants.

[ohioWfan]

Not a rational thought in your head.......

[Diogenesis]

This is nonsense. We are at war. Screw the proterrorist media.

---

[Commander8]

Some very astute statements from my favorite liberal.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

If his habeas corpus rights have been denied, that is clearly unconstitutional.

This guy is an American citizen in custody on American soil, and he has the right to have the courts review his detention.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I believe he is actually a Saudi citizen.

[B Knotts]

Do you think that a Democrat will never again be elected president?

Now, thus far, I am not terribly troubled with the way these powers have been used. From what I recall, this guy was abroad, and meeting with known terrorists.

However, any power like this will be misued eventually, and probably by a Democrat. It's just a bad precedent to be setting.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Everything I've read about this says that he was born in Louisiana.

[B Knotts]

I think he's both. He's a naturalized Saudi citizen, but because he was born in the U.S., he is also a U.S. citizen.

[arete]

Great article. Thanks for the conservative posting.

Richard W.

[TD911]

"Hamdi was taken into custody by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, and then declared an "enemy combatant" by order of George W. Bush"

I guess he was on vacation.

You get caught outside the US, "fighting" against us or our allies, and your citizenship ceases to exist.

As a result so do your "former" Constitutional rights.

BTW, I do not personally know anyone who has been arrested or detained or declared a Enemy Combatant. So, the chicken litle "sky is falling" is a bogus arguement based on a small sample, even the recent Justice Department review shows as much.

[NativeNewYorker]

Well, if Bill Clinton had been minding our borders and hitting the terrorists back from the getgo, W wouldn't be in a position to do this.

[ChadGore]

What about the civil "not being blown up by a jihadists" right ???

That trumps all.

[B Knotts]

That trumps all.

Actually, that is more of a European-type idea, than American. We traditionally have accepted greater risk to our personal safety than our European counterparts, so that we can have greater liberty.

Perhaps that way of thinking has died, but I sincerely hope not.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

You get caught outside the US, "fighting" against us or our allies, and your citizenship ceases to exist.

Please quote the law to which you are referring.

Don't get me wrong; he was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and I think any judge worth his salt would deny his petition and let the Navy keep him locked up for the duration of hostilities (this is a concept which seems to have escaped Mr. Hentoff; the guy's a POW).

But the petition should be heard, because he is an American citizen.

[B Knotts]

That said, I don't have a big problem with this guy's dilemma, as he was captured abroad in a war zone, with the enemy. Quite different than capturing him in a house in Indiana or somewhere.

[visualops]

Interesting questions and debate. What is an "American"? What does it mean to be a United States citizen? If you ally yourself with terrorists or an enemy, is it treason? Do you abdicate the benefits of citizenry?

"Thousands of people from around the world will raise their right hands, swear allegiance to the United States, and become proud American citizens this weekend. They will become Americans because they choose to do so, they love what we stand for, and they are willing to renounce any loyalties to all other foreign governments in order to become one of us.

"And then there are "Americans" such as Yaser Esam Hamdi. These are "Americans" by accident. "Americans" on paper. "Americans" who invoke their citizenship privileges only when it comes time to save their hides or cash in on government benefits.

"Hamdi was born in East Baton Rouge, La., on Sept. 26, 1980. His parents were both citizens of Saudi Arabia. Hamdi's father was here on a temporary work assignment as a chemical engineer for the Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp., a Saudi government-controlled industrial giant. When Hamdi was 3, his family went back to Saudi Arabia.

"For the next two decades, Hamdi was raised in the Saudi kingdom. He spoke their language, not ours. He went to their schools, not ours. He embraced their culture, their religion, and their way of life. Not ours.

"In late fall of 2001, Hamdi was captured in Afghanistan by our boys. He was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, fighting as part of a Taliban or al-Qaeda unit, which surrendered to Northern Alliance forces. Our government declared him and hundreds of his comrades "enemy combatants" and sent them to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation and detention.

-Michelle Malkin
What makes An American?
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2914

[cricket]

"Hypocrisy is a terrible thing"

. . .a terrible thing, but a pre-requiste for developing Liberal character.

. . .and Nat is a Liberal of the highest order. . .probably an admirer of Stalin as well; for sure Fidel . . .