THE RULE OF LAW

March 10, 2003 - Iraqi citizens are subject to arrest at any time a member of the regime decides that they are dangerous to the regime and may be imprisoned indefinitely as an enemy of the state. The regime requires no warrant and the arrest is not subjected to any form of judicial review. The person arrested has no right to contest or even know the charges against him. The person does not have the right to know the evidence against him nor to rebut it with evidence in his defense. He does not have access to counsel to represent him. He is subject to intense physical and psychological pressure. He may be summarily punished, imprisoned or even executed. His conversations, telephone calls and mail are open to the regime’s monitoring. He may be placed under surveillance and his associates subject to investigation merely because of the associations. In short, Iraq is a police state.

Things are far different in America. It is a free country, a democracy. In America a person may not be arrested without a warrant and his detention is subject to judicial scrutiny. In America an arrested person must be informed of the nature of the charges against him and provided with legal counsel to assist him. He must be informed of the evidence against him and has the right to both contest that evidence and compel the appearance of witnesses to give evidence on his behalf at a trail. In America a person may not be subjected to torture nor detained indefinitely. It is that difference that sets America apart from totalitarian regimes around the world.

Or does it?

John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration have invented a new status to apply to aliens and Americans alike. It is not enemy of the state. The new status is enemy combatant.

Once a person is so designated he has all the rights of a person living under the Iraqi regime whether he lives in Brooklyn or Baghdad. Jose Padilla could tell you were he only provided with the right to communicate.

Of course the cheerleading squad reminds us that the Patriot Act passed with Democratic votes in the Senate. Except, dear friends, there is no provision in the Patriot Act to designate a person as an enemy combatant. That designation is a executive branch invention created to justify an wholesale deprivation of the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
So now we must question just what is it that sets America apart from the totalitarian regimes of the world if we can justify arbitrary imprisonment with a word?