International Herald Tribune Editorial - A ruling for justice
International Herald Tribune Editorial - A ruling for justice
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: June 12, 2007
For years, President George W. Bush has made the grandiose claim that the congressional authorization to attack Afghanistan after 9/11 was a declaration of a "war on terror" that gave him the power to decide who the combatants are and throw them into military prisons forever. On Monday, in a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals utterly rejected the president's claims. The majority made clear how threatening the administration's policies are to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law - and how far the administration has already gone down that treacherous road.
Bush, the majority said, does not claim these powers for emergencies but "maintains that the authority to order the military to seize and detain certain civilians is an inherent power of the presidency, which he and his successors may exercise as they please."
The prisoner in this case, a citizen of Qatar named Ali al-Marri, was living in the United States legally when he was arrested and charged with being a Qaeda terrorist. In 2003, Bush declared al-Marri an enemy combatant, took him from civilian authorities and threw him into a military brig where he remains today without charges being filed.
The court said the Constitution and numerous precedents made it clear that foreigners living legally in this country have the same right to due process as any American citizen.
The judges said their ruling did not apply to the prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. But the court's arguments may be relevant to a large number of those men. There are many prisoners who were not taken on a battlefield but were picked up by the military or intelligence agents around the world and classified as combatants because of their association with Al Qaeda. The court said that was not an adequate definition of combatant.
This ruling is another strong argument for bringing Bush's detention camps under the rule of law. Congress can do that by repealing the odious Military Commissions Act of 2006, which endorsed Bush's twisted system of indefinite detentions; by closing Guantánamo Bay, and by allowing the courts to sort out the prisoners - not according to the whims of one president with an obvious disdain for the balance of powers, but by the rules of justice that have guided this nation for more than 200 years.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: June 12, 2007
For years, President George W. Bush has made the grandiose claim that the congressional authorization to attack Afghanistan after 9/11 was a declaration of a "war on terror" that gave him the power to decide who the combatants are and throw them into military prisons forever. On Monday, in a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals utterly rejected the president's claims. The majority made clear how threatening the administration's policies are to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law - and how far the administration has already gone down that treacherous road.
Bush, the majority said, does not claim these powers for emergencies but "maintains that the authority to order the military to seize and detain certain civilians is an inherent power of the presidency, which he and his successors may exercise as they please."
The prisoner in this case, a citizen of Qatar named Ali al-Marri, was living in the United States legally when he was arrested and charged with being a Qaeda terrorist. In 2003, Bush declared al-Marri an enemy combatant, took him from civilian authorities and threw him into a military brig where he remains today without charges being filed.
The court said the Constitution and numerous precedents made it clear that foreigners living legally in this country have the same right to due process as any American citizen.
The judges said their ruling did not apply to the prisoners in Guantánamo Bay. But the court's arguments may be relevant to a large number of those men. There are many prisoners who were not taken on a battlefield but were picked up by the military or intelligence agents around the world and classified as combatants because of their association with Al Qaeda. The court said that was not an adequate definition of combatant.
This ruling is another strong argument for bringing Bush's detention camps under the rule of law. Congress can do that by repealing the odious Military Commissions Act of 2006, which endorsed Bush's twisted system of indefinite detentions; by closing Guantánamo Bay, and by allowing the courts to sort out the prisoners - not according to the whims of one president with an obvious disdain for the balance of powers, but by the rules of justice that have guided this nation for more than 200 years.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 10:11 AM
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