Has anybody seen my civil rights???
“RICHMOND, July 19 — A top government attorney declared Tuesday that, in the war on terror, the United States is a battlefield, and therefore President Bush has the authority to detain enemy combatants indefinitely in this country.
Solicitor General Paul D. Clement’s comments came as a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is considering whether to overturn a lower court ruling that Jose Padilla should be charged with a crime or released. In 2002, Padilla, a former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert, was taken into custody by the military and has been held without trial since.
The government alleges that Padilla, a U.S. citizen, trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and arrived in this country in May 2002 with the intent of blowing up apartment buildings.”
So, the government is arguing that if a US Citizen is accused of terrorism, that person loses all protection under the US constitution. Who gets to make that accusation? Why, the executive branch, of course.
Call me crazy, but it seems I’ve heard of other despots who have reserved to themselves the right to determine to whom constitutional protection ought and ought not to apply. I don’t want to use any unpopular references, but if I recall correctly, 50 years ago there was a short person with an unflattering moustache who used an argument something like that to justify the murder of some 5 million jews.
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