Sic Semper Tyrannus
In what can only be called yet another blow to the body politic that is President Bush, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled a person cannot be held indefinitely by the government regardless of their citizenship status. Yeah, apparently a terror suspect, Ali al-Marri, was captured under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (yeah, that's a PDF, sorry) and held without charge. He got a hold of some lawyers, fought this and he's going through the legal process afforded him here in the United States. This case went up to the 4th Circuit Court, not known as a particularly lenient court in these matters, and they voted 2-1 against the government. Or rather, against the encroachment of government into places it was never meant to go. Or in the words of the ruling: "Put simply, the Constitution does not allow the President to order the military to seize civilians residing within the United States and then detain them indefinitely without criminal process, and this is so even if he calls them 'enemy combatants'."
Ali al-Marri is a legal US resident, not a citizen but a man with a green card, who was picked up for allegedly having a part in. . .well, we really don't know. The government claims he's part of an al-Qaeda support group. Instead of proving this like the millions of other organized crime, fraud, money laundering or kidnapping cases, they removed him from the normal criminal courts and into less obvious and transparent military courts. Which even the military doesn't really buy into all of it. The court ruled, specifically but viciously, that since he was not captured outside the US and lives legally in the United States. Long and short, he played by all the rules except for this, the government has to play by the rules too. That's the way America is supposed to work, we all know the rules and even the government has to play by some.
That's one of the things we broke off from the Empire about: we needed fairly and impartially run trials by the government. We needed a system of laws and governance, and more importantly, punishment, that allowed neither side to cheat, no matter how much they wanted it. Defense couldn't make people lie, even when person was really, really super-duper innocent and the government couldn't just decide randomly whom to throw in jail and keep locked up forever. Even the military high command has figured out that these kinds of trials aren't the best for themselves and if there are going to be rules, everyone needs to play by them. We can't, as a society, lament lawless acts of aggression by non-state and non-accountable actors while tossing out our own laws and values to deal with them. Terrorism is bad (in other news, sky is blue and water, wet) and it needs to be dealt with harshly. Sometimes, that can mean the occasional lawful invasions into privacy of citizens, but all of that is done in way that is fair, open and consistent. Warrants have to be published, evidence has to be shown and cross examined at trial and there has to be a trial with lawyers and everything.
Proponents of these kinds of measures often say that normal legal measures won't work since terrorists shouldn't have access to lawyers, writs of habeas corpus and other means by which they could use legal trickery. After all, these are terrorists and threats to national security. That is true, they are. As were Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. They were all tried and convicted in American courts and living out the rest of their lives in solitary confinement. Except for McVeigh, who was executed. All under American laws existing before September 2001. No, I'm serious. We actually convicted people of terror related crimes BEFORE the PATRIOT Act. America can actually keep itself safe and secure without draconian laws.
You know, the things we are when the government ISN'T intruding too much into our lives.
So it is written, so do I see it.
Ali al-Marri is a legal US resident, not a citizen but a man with a green card, who was picked up for allegedly having a part in. . .well, we really don't know. The government claims he's part of an al-Qaeda support group. Instead of proving this like the millions of other organized crime, fraud, money laundering or kidnapping cases, they removed him from the normal criminal courts and into less obvious and transparent military courts. Which even the military doesn't really buy into all of it. The court ruled, specifically but viciously, that since he was not captured outside the US and lives legally in the United States. Long and short, he played by all the rules except for this, the government has to play by the rules too. That's the way America is supposed to work, we all know the rules and even the government has to play by some.
That's one of the things we broke off from the Empire about: we needed fairly and impartially run trials by the government. We needed a system of laws and governance, and more importantly, punishment, that allowed neither side to cheat, no matter how much they wanted it. Defense couldn't make people lie, even when person was really, really super-duper innocent and the government couldn't just decide randomly whom to throw in jail and keep locked up forever. Even the military high command has figured out that these kinds of trials aren't the best for themselves and if there are going to be rules, everyone needs to play by them. We can't, as a society, lament lawless acts of aggression by non-state and non-accountable actors while tossing out our own laws and values to deal with them. Terrorism is bad (in other news, sky is blue and water, wet) and it needs to be dealt with harshly. Sometimes, that can mean the occasional lawful invasions into privacy of citizens, but all of that is done in way that is fair, open and consistent. Warrants have to be published, evidence has to be shown and cross examined at trial and there has to be a trial with lawyers and everything.
Proponents of these kinds of measures often say that normal legal measures won't work since terrorists shouldn't have access to lawyers, writs of habeas corpus and other means by which they could use legal trickery. After all, these are terrorists and threats to national security. That is true, they are. As were Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. They were all tried and convicted in American courts and living out the rest of their lives in solitary confinement. Except for McVeigh, who was executed. All under American laws existing before September 2001. No, I'm serious. We actually convicted people of terror related crimes BEFORE the PATRIOT Act. America can actually keep itself safe and secure without draconian laws.
You know, the things we are when the government ISN'T intruding too much into our lives.
So it is written, so do I see it.