Politicked Off

S. 3930 passed just before Congress adjourned to campaign for re-election. They passed it to show they were tough on terrorism. But it effectively repeals the Bill of Rights. It permits the federal government to . . .

• “Disappear” anyone (including American citizens)
• Detain them indefinitely without recourse to legal defense
• Torture them
• Try them without due process
• Punish them, also without due process

The entire bill is bad, but the “killer” passage is subsection ii which defines an Unlawful Enemy Combatant as anyone . . .

“who, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense.”

1. This section makes it clear that this law applies to anyone appointed bureaucrats label an “enemy combatant.” That could be you.
2. There’s no limit to application of this law. It could be applied to anyone at anytime — war or no war.
3. Notice also that this new law is retroactive. You could have done something to violate this law before it even became a law.
4. Please also notice that the President is given the authority to create another “competent tribunal” to make these decisions if he or she is not satisfied with the efforts of the Combatant Status Review Tribunal. In other words, the President can create other tribunals, not even governed by this law, as long as he declares them to be “competent” to make decisions about who should be disappeared, detained, tortured, tried and punished, all without recourse to a legal defense.

Please be clear about what this all means . . .

You could be disappeared at anytime, detained and tortured, forever, and no one need ever know what became of you.

You were told this law would only apply to non-citizens. You were told a deal was being struck to make the bill less oppressive. Congress lied on both counts. The deal they struck actually made the law worse.

You were informed by the mainstream media that you could trust Senator McCain to protect you because he had once been tortured in Vietnam, but Senator McCain did not protect you. He betrayed you. He agreed to make this law worse, not better.

The final version of this law actually repeals the entire Bill of Rights for everyone; citizens and non-citizens alike. The only right you still retain is the protection against being forced to quarter troops in your home.

Please help by heading to Downsize DC to contact your local representative demanding that this bill be repealed immediately.