US developing parallel legal system for terror suspects

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/336/nation/US_developing_parallel_legal_system_for_terror_suspects+.shtml

For example, under authority it already has or is asserting in court cases, the administration, with approval of the special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, could order a clandestine search of a US citizen's home and, based on the information gathered, secretly declare the citizen an enemy combatant, to be held indefinitely at a US military base. Courts would have very limited authority to second-guess the detention, to the extent that they were aware of it.

well.. that's nice

rien_du_tout

Scarey, I thought american citizens would have rights by law. So a search could be done without a warrant or anything of the sort??

pencil

''I wouldn't call it an alternative system,'' said an administration official who has helped devise the legal response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. ''But it is different than the criminal procedure system we all know and love. It's a separate track for people we catch in the war.''

'We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz..........'
'This SURE isn't Kansas toto'

At least one American has been shifted from the ordinary legal system into the parallel one: alleged Al Qaeda ''dirty bomb'' plotter Jose Padilla, who is being held at a Navy brig, without the right to communicate with a lawyer or anyone else. US officials have told the courts they can detain and interrogate him until the executive branch declares an end to the war against terrorism.

The last reports I heard about this guy was that he wasn't a terrorist, he was engaged in nothing but 'Loose talk'!! Whatever happened to presumption of innocence? Is it a case of, bury your mistakes even if they are human?

Probably the most hotly disputed element of the administration's approach is its claim that the president alone can designate individuals, including American citizens, as enemy combatants, who can be detained with no access to lawyers or family members unless and until the president determines, in effect, that hostilities between the United States and that individual have ended.

America is slowly become the terrorist state it claims to be protecting it people against.

I'm tired of reading how bad the U.S government has gotten (insert the latest international fu@k up here) & have decided to stop buying American products (or product associated with America companies) .

JustHalf

This isn't a reason to call America a terrorist state. It is a reason to call it an unjust one.

bonkey

Make for a great re-election platform though, wouldnt it

Dubya decides that all his opponents are suspects under this law, has them arrested, and decides after his re-election that he was mistaken and that they are in fact innocent.

In seriousness, though, I would agree with JustHalf here - its dangerously unjust, but not terroristic.

Personally, I fear that the more America fights to preserve its ideals, the more it is sacrificing those ideals to achieve its goals. Ultimately, this may prove self-defeating.

This, to me, is just another short-sighted, knee-jerk step where the want to achieve something has taken precedence over the long-term implications.

jc