By Linda G. Richard
freedetainees.org
Well, that certainly didn’t take long. On June 12, 2008 the Supreme Court of the United States of America made a historic decision that never should have been necessary. In 2006, Bush found it in the best interest of his agenda to keep the detainees of his war on Afghanistan locked up illegally for as long as possible. Congress enacted the Military Commissions act, which basically took away Habeas Corpus.
His excuse for this was “To authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of war, and for other purposes.” It was a knee-jerk reaction to Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which stated that the military commissions act of 2005’s “structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949.”
Whatever Bush wants, Bush gets.. until June 12, that is.
Perhaps our celebrations were premature. Rep John B. Shadegg, bless his little neocon heart, introduced H.R.6274, “To provide an equivalent to habeas corpus protection for persons held under military authority under that part of Cuba leased to the United States.” He introduced this little gem on June 17, 2008. This bill is called “Boumediene Jurisdiction Correction Act”, if you can believe that one. We need to correct Supreme Court decisions now, imagine that.
Let me think, why is Arizona so familiar? Oh yes! John McCain is from Arizona, too! What a coincidence. Better yet, I wonder what political and/or monetary favors McCain (or McManchurian as I fondly call him) owes ol’ Johnny B?
Partners in crime (Co-Sponsors) include:
Rep Bachmann, Michele [MN-6] - 6/18/2008 Rep Fallin, Mary [OK-5] - 6/18/2008 Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] - 6/18/2008 Rep Gingrey, Phil [GA-11] - 6/18/2008 Rep Issa, Darrell E. [CA-49] - 6/18/2008 Rep Latta, Robert E. [OH-5] - 6/18/2008 Rep Myrick, Sue Wilkins [NC-9] - 6/18/2008 | Rep Pence, Mike [IN-6] - 6/18/2008 Rep Pitts, Joseph R. [PA-16] - 6/18/2008 Rep Price, Tom [GA-6] - 6/18/2008 Rep Shimkus, John [IL-19] - 6/18/2008 Rep Sullivan, John [OK-1] - 6/18/2008 Rep Wamp, Zach [TN-3] - 6/18/2008 Rep Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3] - 6/18/2008 |
Status: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned. (ASAP I imagine since the the Habeas petitions are already in and pouring in)
Please do take a moment to read the full text of the measure. Just grab a cup of tea - better yet something soft that can be thrown across the room without actually breaking anything, and peruse the hastily written document.
Then hastily write some documents to the pawns, er, politicians above, and don’t forget dear old Johnny B. Drop a line to McManchurian while you’re at it, and let him know that you have a pretty good idea of where ol’ Johnny B. got this bright idea.
After all that.. visit Johnny B. for Congress here.