War on Terrorism

Tyranny and the Military Commissions Act

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2007

In Star Wars, Episode 3, in response to the Senate’s grant of sweeping powers to Chancellor Palpatine, Padme declares, “So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause.” The same may be said about the Military Commissions Act (MCA) that was recently enacted by Congress — that this is how freedom ends, with or without the applause. Despite the fact that the ...

Why Did They Torture Jose Padilla?

by John Grant February 1, 2007

There’s a rancid odor escaping from the cracks in the Jose Padilla case. Padilla is the American citizen arrested in Chicago and declared by President Bush to be an “enemy combatant.” He was then kept for nearly two years in a South Carolina brig without access to a lawyer, family, or friends. The courts finally forced the Bush administration to ...

My Time in the Tower of London

by James Bovard December 1, 2006

I visited the Tower of London in May on an overcast, dreary Friday afternoon. The home of so many famous executions and king-approved murders is kept in spiffy shape. The tour guide — a former British sergeant-military wearing a large “Beefeater”-style hat — regaled listeners with tales of beheadings gone wrong, drunks with axes hacking ...

Jose Padilla and the Military Commissions Act

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 16, 2006

Anyone who hoped that U.S. military detention of Americans accused of terrorism expired with the transfer of American citizen Jose Padilla from military custody to Justice Department custody have seen their hopes dashed by the Military Commissions Act that the president signed into law yesterday. Although the act limits to foreign citizens the use ...

Al-Qaeda in Federal Court

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 16, 2006

Ever since 9/11, U.S. officials have been telling us that the “war on terrorism” has made it necessary for the U.S. military to hijack America’s criminal justice system by taking suspected terrorists into military custody and punishing them, denying them the rights normally guaranteed to criminal defendants in the Bill of Rights. The feds have argued ...

Habeas Corpus: The Lynchpin of Freedom

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 11, 2006

In the recently enacted Military Commissions Act, Congress acceded to President Bush’s request to remove the power of federal courts to consider petitions for writ of habeas by foreign citizens held by U.S. officials on suspicion of having committed acts of terrorism. While it might be tempting to conclude that ...

It’s Not War

by Sheldon Richman October 9, 2006

Last weekend I watched my daughter Emily perform in a play about women who replaced men in factory jobs during World War II. The theme of “American Rosies” is that the war was such a dominant fact of life that these women were determined to participate. Going to work making military equipment was their best opportunity. The ...

Bush’s Signing Statement Dictatorship

by James Bovard October 9, 2006

President Bush has once again decreed that his personal pen is the highest law of the land. In a statement issued on October 4, 2006, he announced that he would ignore many provisions of the Homeland Security appropriations act he signed earlier in the day. His action vivifies that the rule of law now ...

The O’Reilly Fear Factor

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 2, 2006

It should come as no surprise that conservative Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly is praising the military-detention bill that President Bush recently got through Congress. In a commentary dated September 29, 2007, which was posted on the Fox News website, O’Reilly said that “the only downside for the president is that interrogation methods like water boarding ...

Outsourcing Torture

by Sheldon Richman September 29, 2006

If you want to see the bare essence of the Bush administration, behold its policy of “rendition.” The innocuous-sounding word signifies a policy under which American officials send terrorist suspects — detainees never convicted of crimes — to countries where they will be tortured, keeping the U.S. government’s hands clean of the monstrous treatment. Can ...

Decimating the Constitution with Military Tribunals

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 27, 2006

Given all the glorification being bestowed on three U.S. senators for displaying “principle” in standing against President Bush’s plan to amend the Geneva Convention to permit torture of detainees, followed by their quick compromise abandoning any semblance of principle, it is easy to lose sight of something much bigger: The military tribunals that the ...

The United States of Barbarism

by James Bovard September 25, 2006

The U.S. Senate is cutting a deal with President Bush to make America a banana republic. Last week, three senators reached an agreement with the White House that will de facto permit the CIA to continue torturing people around the world. And the deal will prevent anyone — including Bush administration officials — from being ...