“Your words are lies, Sir. They are lies, that imperil us all.”
We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who may now, if he so decides, declare not merely any non-American citizens “Unlawful Enemy Combatants” and ship them somewhere – anywhere – but may now, if he so decides, declare you an “Unlawful Enemy Combatant” and ship you somewhere – anywhere.
And if you think this hyperbole or hysteria… ask the newspaper editors when John Adams was President, or the pacifists when Woodrow Wilson was President, or the Japanese at Manzanar when Franklin Roosevelt was President.
And if you somehow think Habeas Corpus has not been suspended for American citizens but only for everybody else, ask yourself this: if you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an alien or an undocumented immigrant or an “unlawful enemy combatant” — exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not? Do you think this Attorney General is going to help you?
This President now has his blank check. He lied to get it. He lied as he received it. Is there any reason to even hope, he has not lied about how he intends to use it, nor who he intends to use it against?
I fully realize that this country is not divided along truely black and white lines. I realize that not all Conservatives/Republicans think that everything the current administration is doing is good. But I wonder – those of you who voted for GWB in this past election – do you feel good about this? Are you happy with what has happened? Or do you not mind that the suspension of Habeas Corpus and erosion of human rights as long as financial and econmic issues that affect you are served?