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2006-10-18
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Bush signs away democracy...
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Bush signs away democracy...

"a group of men standing around a man signing a document"

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Comments for: Bush signs away democracy...
Anonymous Report This Comment
Date: October 18, 2006 02:07PM

That's ok...it wasn't working that well anyway.
HellBent Report This Comment
Date: October 18, 2006 07:35PM

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Bush signs torture bill; Americans lose essential freedom
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George W. Bush got what he wanted, ostensibly as a tool in his unfocused "war on terror": By signing into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Bush has made it legal for the C.I.A. to continue operating torture facilities in undisclosed, foreign countries, and for the writ of habeas corpus to be suspended for individuals who are designated "enemy combatants" against the U.S. (Designated by whom? That question remains unanswered.) The law also "establishes military tribunals that would allow some use of evidence obtained by coercion [that is, torture], but would give defendants access to classified evidence being used to convict them." (Reuters -[thestar.com.my] )


The provisions of Bush's new torture law mean that Americans have lost the key, constitutional right on which Anglo-American criminal law (and criminal-law procedures in true democracies in general) is founded; that's the basic right of an individual to know why he or she is being apprehended and detained. Now, technically, as in Stalin's Soviet Union, Hitler's Germany, Mao's China or Pol Pot's Cambodia, anyone labeled an "enemy combatant" - again, by whom; by Bush? - can be whisked away and never heard from again. That kind of authority, in the hands of corrupt or untruthful politicians, may or may not be an effective tool in some kind of "war on terror," but it certainly can be a useful tool when it comes to silencing their opponents.

"Officially, the Military Commissions Act protects detainees from blatant abuses during questioning, such as rape, torture and 'cruel and inhuman' treatment, but it does not require that any of them be granted legal counsel....Bush said that it was 'fair, lawful and necessary.'" (Times - [www.timesonline.co.uk] )

During the bill-signing ceremony yesterday, religious groups protested outside the White House. Demonstrators declared, "Bush is the terrorist" and "Torture is a crime."

In an Orwellian pronouncement dutifully reported by Voice of America, the taxpayer-funded "news" service that acts as a mouthpiece for the administration, Bush said: "The United States does not torture....It is against our laws and it is against our values. By allowing the C.I.A. program to go forward, this bill is preserving a tool that has saved American lives." Bush's claim flies in the face of numerous reports of torture conducted by American officials at U.S. military prisons or secret locations overseas. (See Human Rights Watch - [www.hrw.org] )

China's Xinhua (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/17/content_5216124.htm), the state-controlled news agency of a country that knows a thing or two about suppressing human rights, reports: "Of the hundreds of detainees being jailed at the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, only ten have been selected for trial. The indefinite detention of others has been condemned by human-rights groups as violating international law." Xinhua adds: "Some or all of the 14 suspects held by the C.I.A. in secret prisons [outside the U.S.] and recently transferred to military custody at Guantánamo might also be tried." (And then again, given the imprecision of Bush's new law and the ever-greater power that he keeps claiming as president, they might not.)

Xinhua observes: "Three weeks before the midterm congressional elections, [Bush's] signing of the bill was believed to be a deliberate move aimed to shift public attention...from the scandals that could cost Republicans their control of Congress."

Posted By: Edward M. Gomez (Email) | October 17 2006 at 12:42 PM

Listed Under: "War on Terror" | [sfgate.com]
Jordan1st Report This Comment
Date: October 18, 2006 10:53PM

its funny that kinnda reminds me of saddam husaina's regime,

remember 3 years ago, when 250,000 soligers invaded iraq to stop saddam killing and tourturing the iraqi people! to inforce democracy and human rights, to make haliburton "cheny & bush.co" richer.

well i dont see any diffrence between the two... well at least saddam has diginty.
Anonymous Report This Comment
Date: October 19, 2006 06:15AM

Olbermann: The Day Habeas Corpus Died

Crooks & Liars | October 18 2006

Today, 135 years to the day after the last American President (Ulysses S. Grant) suspended habeas corpus, President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006. At its worst, the legislation allows President Bush or Donald Rumsfeld to declare anyone — US citizen or not — an enemy combatant, lock them up and throw away the key without a chance to prove their innocence in a court of law. In other words, every thing the Founding Fathers fought the British empire to free themselves of was reversed and nullified with the stroke of a pen, all under the guise of the War on Terror.

Jonathan Turley joined Keith to talk about the law that Senator Feingold said would be seen as "a stain on our nation's history."

Turley: "People have no idea how significant this is. Really a time of shame this is for the American system.—The strange thing is that we have become sort of constitutional couch potatoes. The Congress just gave the President despotic powers and you could hear the yawn across the country as people turned to Dancing With the Stars. It's otherworldly..People clearly don't realize what a fundamental change it is about who we are as a country. What happened today changed us. And I'm not too sure we're gonna change back anytime soon."
Anonymous Report This Comment
Date: October 19, 2006 06:40AM

Is everyone in the USA comfortable with "security camera's" everywhere, all the time, look at the dumbasses in london for instance, piles of camera's at every street corner, are you going to be comfortable with things like having to scan your eye and or your hand to do anything(it's convenient and helps us keep extra safe) how about having the future generations of this country getting rfid (tracking device) put inside them, you know for there safety, and if anyone wants to deny this kind of shit happening, just remember, your kids and great grandkids may be able to read your bullshit when they are directly involved in it. Whatever, no big deal, just silliness............. Oh yeah, passing that law just opened lots more doors for THEM, now if you go against THEM when signing the next piece of paper, they can throw you away , no rights, the end............. You don't have to get worked up about this weird stuff but you do need to check up on the real facts.

Terror Storm (video)
[video.google.com]