[On This Day...] January 9, 2003
...
The Headlines, January 9, 2003
- Detention Upheld in Hamdi Case
- U.S. Begins Trade Talks With Central Americans
- Bush Goes With Bold Stroke - Outside Proposals Key To Strategy
The Stories
DETENTION UPHELD IN [HAMDI] COMBATANT CASE
A federal appeals court found for the Bush administration, that, because Bush is a wartime president,he can indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen. Yasser Esam Hamdi, a Saudi born in America, was captured in Afghanistan, declared an enemy combatant and denied access to a lawyer. John Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney General, declared the decision an important victory for the President and the security of the American people. Reported by Neil A. Lewis for the New York Times.
...
U.S. BEGINS TRADE TALKS WITH CENTRAL AMERICANS
“The Bush administration officially opened negotiations today to create a free trade agreement with five Central American countries within a year, a big leap in its ambitious plans for a Nafta-like zone throughout the Western Hemisphere.”
...
BUSH GOES WITH BOLD STROKE - Outside Proposals Key To Strategy
Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. “Congress expected a modest economic stimulus plan for working- class Americans; [Bush] doubled the expected size and offered broad tax cuts that would heavily benefit the wealthy. Lawmakers in both parties said the Trent Lott imbroglio meant the Republican Party had to adopt a conciliatory civil rights agenda; Bush renominated a Lott judicial pick, Charles W. Pickering Sr., with controversial racial stands.”
...
Red, did you lead with Hamdi just because you knew it would get me going? If so, thanks. If not, thanks anyway.
The Hamdi judgement is one that should raise the hackles of everyone who cares a whit about the Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights.
Hamdi, an American citizen born in Louisiana of Saudi parents, was captured by the Northern Alliance in Afganistan in late 2001, held as an enemy combantant in Gitmo, then imprisoned without charge in Virginia for more than two years without representation, and for almost three years without charge. In June, 2004, the Supreme Court repudiated the Bush Administration's assertion that it could hold him indefinitely without charge. In October, 2004 -- four additional months later -- the Bushies graciously to release him.
He was never charged, but -- get this -- he was released after agreeing to renounce his American citizenship, be deported to Saudi Arabia, and never leave the Saudi kingdom without informing the Saudi government.
This case stands alongside the Padilla debacle in testament to the utter contempt the current administration has for the Constitution, due process, and the rule of law in America.
January 9, 2007 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
K J, it is as though we walked into the twilight zone on the day Bush delivered his graduation speech to the cadets at West Point, in the spring of 2002, I think. From that day forward, preemption would replace provocation as the sufficient cause for America to go to war.
First, the Supreme Court shows contempt for the constitution and selects George Bush to be our president. Then Bush declares that wars will be fought based upon his preemptive judgement. Then the disappearing of citizens begins, while the trashing of the constitution and the looting of the public purse spin up.
I don't understand the psychology of our countrymen. Is it that we are too fat, dumb and happy to care? Is it inattention, or ignorance? Is it fear? Or has that evil Hollywood inured us to the torturing, murdering and civil rights to the "bad guys."
January 9, 2007 9:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I despair for America as I knew it growing up.
I blame the political degeneracy of our country on:
-- Lack of leadership from the Left based on political cowardice;
-- The power of mass communication (primarily television) and the Right's genius in exploiting it;
-- Laziness, selfishness, and greed on the part of the electorate, combined with:
---- Ignorance of their own best interest;
---- Apathy about civil liberties;
---- Religious indoctrination.
I only hope that the Internet can make a contribution to a comback for liberal democracy in this country; but frankly, I think it may be too late.
Fortunately, I may be old enough to avoid feeling the full effects. Unfortunately, I have a 30-year-old daughter.
January 10, 2007 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bread and circuses.
The other side of "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose" is, when you got something, you don't want to make waves because you might lose it. Keeps lots of folks from speaking up.
Then there's this. Among the things we no longer value enough to teach them in schools, art and music spring to mind, along with civics. Civics. Civics is not valued by the institution that we rely upon to educate the next generation of US citizens. The institution, of course, reflects our own values.
You and I could ride it out. But children, grandchildren, they have to face it.
Tonight, I tried to watch George Bush announce the pending death and mutilation of untold additional Americans and Iraqis but found I did not have the stomach for it.
January 10, 2007 8:58 PM | Reply | Permalink