Ritesh’s Blaagh(!)

I had to do some reading for an exam I’m taking tomorrow morning, but while I was in the reading mood, I decided to finally read through the Military Commissions Act of 2006, signed into law by George W. Bush a couple of days ago.

(If you want to read it for yourself, click here)

So everyone knows the big headline: The U.S. no longer follows the precepts of the Geneva Conventions in regards to the treatment of prisoners of war, summarily legalizing (retroactively) the institutional and organized torture of detainees. In addition to all of this, however, there was some more scary stuff in The Act.

For example, did you know that as a citizen of the United states of America, even you can be considered an unlawful enemy combatant? But who designates someone as an unlawful enemy combatant? The President or Secretary of Defense does, of course [10 U.S.C. § 948d(c)].

It’s not just habeas corpus that is in danger, but some of the most fundamental of civil rights. There are provisions to allow for the introduction of evidence procured without a search warrant [10 U.S.C. § 949a(b)(2)(B)], evidence that is “top secret” and is never disclosed to the defense [10 U.S.C. § 949d(f)(2)(B)], mandatory self-incrimination [10 U.S.C. § 948b(d)(1)(B)], etc., etc. There’s just way too much for me to mention.

To balance the scales, though, I must admit that there have been some notable resources incorrectly stating that the convening authority has full discretion to overturn not guilty findings by the military commission. The portion of the act that is used to push this belief is found in 10 U.S.C. § 950b(c)(1); which states in part: The authority under this subsection to modify the findings and sentence of a military commission under this chapter is a matter of the sole discretion and prerogative of the convening authority. Of course, later in the chapter, the ability to overturn a not guilty finding is, inter alia, severely limited [10 U.S.C. § 950b(d)(2)(B)].

So back to the original question. Are we one step closer to fascism? I think it’s another small step for George W. Bush, but one giant leap towards fascism for America.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS