The Detention and Torture of Untermenschen Act (2006)

[chickenfeet]

Let's be clear what the US Congress has just authorised.

The President or the Secretary of Defense can now designate as an "enemy combatant" any non US citizen who is considered to be aiding or abetting any enemy of the United States or any of its allies. There is no legal definition of 'ally' but supposing it means anybody the US has a military co-operation agreement that runs pretty wide. So anybody who gives aid to any organisation opposing Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza, opposing Turkish oppression of the Kurds, supporting First Nations activists in Southern Ontario and a thousand and one other causes, could be picked up while passing through the US and treated as an "enemy combatant".

Such "enemy combatants" can be shipped off for detention and interrogation to anywhere the the Pres or the SoD chooses. Their only right to challenge their status or treatment (including what constitutes torture) will be through a military tribunal. They are denied access to the US Federal Courts.

This is a massive power grab by the administration. The US now asserts the right to detain interrogate, judge, and if it feels like it, execute any person (except US citizens), anywhere that the administration deems to be an enemy of the US with no legal recourse except to very dubious military tribunals.

What, of course, is particularly brazen about this is that it doesn't apply to US citizens. Most governments assert their right to police and judge their own citizens and, indeed, that's what any notion of social contract is all about. Western democracy is built more or less explicitly on the notion of a compact between governors and governed. What this extraordinary piece of legislation asserts is the right of the US government to apply standards to the citizens of other countries that it daren't even begin to suggest (yet!) for the people who vote for it.

My guess is that the next step will be legislation allowing the Administration to strip citizenship from any non-native born citizen suspected of 'anti-American' activities, followed after a decent interval by the extension of that principle to native born citizens and so on. Come on Americans, you have already let the Pentagon take over your foreign and industrial policies, are you going to let them have the judiciary too?

Comments

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

All hail the global war for freedom and civilisation!

Preferably from *very* far away. I decided 3 years ago that I will not be visiting the US until there is a change in the political climate. I still didn't expect to see this quite this early.

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

DMDI and I had come to the same decision. Sad, really.

[sabotabby]

*shakes head*

It's just so blatant. Instead of covering up their illegal activities, they make them legal. I'd admire the chutzpah if the end result wasn't a lot of people getting tortured and/or deported.

I'm headed to the U.S. in November. I'm hoping that I'm not high-profile enough to have registered on anyone's radar.

[unblinkered.livejournal.com]

Frightening. What scares me is that they're happy to basically swat aside such unimportant documents as the Geneva Conventions...and the idea that US law supercedes international law or even the law of whichever country the "enemy combatants" happen to be in. Bloody hell...

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

and the idea that US law supercedes international law or even the law of whichever country the "enemy combatants" happen to be in.

I was wondering about this: just which country would hand over its sovereignity to the US? I mean, yes, the US govt thinks it can supercede the laws of other countries but what is the reality like in other parts of the world?

I know that no govt here would let the US do something like that on Indian soil, at least not until US invades and takes over the country. Any other scenario would just mean mass protests, riots, the Supreme Court striking down the treaty, and possibly lynching of the people who thought this was a good idea.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

what is the reality like in other parts of the world?

The Italians have allowed the CIA to kidnap people on Italian soil.

Poland almost certainly allowed illegal secret CIA prisons.

Looks like most of the EU countries connived at 'extraordinary rendition'.

Canada turns a blind eye to whatever the US does. Maher Arar just being one high profile case.

Other coalition forces in Iraq routinely turn prisoners over to the Americans (or at least used to, now they probably turn them over to the Iraqis for torture instead).

For a lot of people in Canada and the Caribbean it's quite hard to avoid US territory when travelling. Plane gets diverted due to bad weather and lands in Detroit rather than Toronto?

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

Really tough for those in Canada & the Caribbeanthen.

So, the US can implement this in Europe, and in North America. Australia probably wouldn't protest too much either...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

And, apparently, according to Amnesty, as reported by the BBC, Pakistan has been selling suspects to the US military.

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

Well, of course it has. Given the Merkin pressure vis-a-vis the TWAT, this is an easy way to get rid of the undesirables and earn some money at the same time. But it is also a very different proposition from letting the Merkins decide who is an enemy combatant and letting them impound the same.

Happens in Afghanistan too, and in Iraq - there are cash prizes for turning in 'terrorists' and some find it a convenient way to get back at their neighbours/enemies.

[albionwood.livejournal.com]

Je ne suis pas Americain - je suis de Californie.

We're going to look back on the late 20th century as the Golden Age of the US. It's all downhill from January 2001, when the madmen took over the asylum. Even if a majority wakes up and realizes what's going on, I think it will be too late to reverse the decline. We're screwed, and we deserve it.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

This has been on the news over here a lot.

It is shameful.

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

> it doesn't apply to US citizens.

We're not quite sure of that yet. The bill itself is unclear, as I am given to understand it.

> are you going to let them have the judiciary too?

That battle was lost a few years ago.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

So, what do you think would happen if someone did an investigation of Irish pubs, their patrons, and their owners for the last 25 years. I wonder how many people could be prosecuted under this act? Or would Murcans still be excluded?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that it is not clear whether or not the Act applies to US citizens. And of course someone can only be designated an 'enemy combatant' by the President or SoD so it's unlikely they would go after an IRA connection.