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[morph-us]

Here's what happens when this irresponsible U.S. Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make U.S. troops less safe and do lasting damage to Americans' 217-year-old nation of laws - while doing nothing to protect America from terrorists.

Republicans say Congress must act right now to create procedures for charging and trying terrorists - because the men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks are available for trial. That's pure propaganda. Those men could have been tried and convicted long ago, but President George W. Bush chose not to. He held them in illegal detention, had them questioned in ways that will make real trials very hard, and invented a transparently illegal system of kangaroo courts to convict them.

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THESE ARE SOME OF THE BILLS BIGGEST FLAWS:

Enemy combatants: A dangerously broad definition of "illegal enemy combatant" in the bill could subject legal U.S. residents, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret - there's no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions. All Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/28/opinion/edterror.php

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conspireality - expect the unexpected. *morpheUS*

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