Today, Senator Robert Menendez added his endorsement to the bill authored by Christopher Dodd to drastically amend the Military Commissions Act to stop many of the totalitarian powers the Military Commission Act allows. That makes just four senators who have come out in support of the Restoring the Constitution Act.
Personally, I favor a complete complete repeal of the Military Commissions Act. After all, there is no real security need for the Military Commissions Act at all. The law was passed in order provide legal cover for unconstitutional and illegal activities by the Bush White House, not to keep America safe. That’s why, today, I started a petition calling upon Congress to totally repeal the Military Commissions Act.
Still, for now, the Dodd bill is the best legislation to deal with the problem of the Military Commissions Act there is in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. It speaks well of Christopher Dodd that he is willing to place the issue of the abuses of the Military Commissions Act at the center of his presidential campaign. The danger of the Military Commissions Act powers stands right next to the Iraq War as a top crisis facing the United States today.
Those dangerous powers include:
- The power of the government to ignore habeas corpus
- Legal amnesty to George W. Bush and other top officials for war crimes
- The power to torture
- The power to imprison people without trial, without access to lawyers, and even without criminal charges
- The power to replace the fair trials guaranteed in the Bill of Rights with outrageous kangaroo courts that make a mockery of justice
Of all the presidential candidates from the Senate, only Christopher Dodd is actually doing something on this issue. John McCain is doing nothing. Sam Brownback is doing nothing. Well, we expect this kind of disrespect for American liberty from people like John McCain and Sam Brownback. They’re Republicans. Brownback and McCain voted in favor of the pro-torture Military Commissions Act.
What’s up with the other Democrats in the Senate who are running for President. Why won’t Hillary Clinton co-sponsor Christopher Dodd’s bill, or offer an alternative bill to repeal the Military Commissions Act? Why has Barack Obama done nothing? What is Joseph Biden‘s excuse for inaction on the abuses allowed by the Military Commissions Act?
The Military Commissions Act presents a fundamental moral challenge for our generation. So far, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joseph Biden are failing the test.
My take on this is that the congress is keeping a low profile while the surge takes place. W is still commander in chief, supporting the troops is still a political issue, besides, some hope it will work. There will always be time to unceremoniously dump our Iraqi allies later, and closer to the election. It’s still a good idea to keep Iraq in the public eye and keep pressure on the Maliki government. And start chipping away at Bush’s outrageous wartime powers. I’m afraid Bush’s unprecedented abuse of power will not go away until we are out of Iraq.
Alan, whether I agree or disagree with all of the rhetoric and “politically correct/incorrect” responses to the posts/responses here at IT, I am compelled to ask you to elaborate a bit more on the comment you make mid-way through your response wherein you state, “there will always be a time to…dump…allies…” What do you mean by this?
Remember the Hmung? A pre-literate Vietnamese tribe who were our allies in a different war. When we ditched Vietnam, they suffered badly for having supported us. Quite a few did emigrate, many to the Minneapolis area, but they have not done well here either. High rate of suicide, difficult to teach them English since they don’t have a written language, many social problems with the group, many have had family members in Vietnam they knew were still being tortured for their support of U.S., and sometimes just not knowing if their families were alive. The personal price for supporting the U.S. politically can be high, especially when we get tired of paying the bills for our current project and abruptly decide to move on.
You certainly have the right to move on, but, could you live with the devastation left behind? Especially if that devastation affected “your” own family? I couldn’t. Then again, I have my own opinions like everyone else and I could argue them all night long. However, I will leave you with this, “what if the shoe were on the other foot?”