Commentary
No Blank Checks on Torture
More than two years ago, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor cautioned that “a state of war is not a blank check for the President.” The United States Congress, apparently, never got the memo. Last week, lawmakers passed a bill that hands the President sweeping detention and interrogation powers while eliminating habeas corpus review for any noncitizen he labels an “enemy combatant.”
Authored by: Jonathan Hafetz
– 10/09/06
Five Squandered Years
The United States has two main resources to combat terrorism: The hard power of military might, and the soft power of diplomacy that comes from convincingly claiming the moral high ground. Five years after the 9/11 attacks, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Bush Administration has gutted both.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 10/04/06
Terror 2016
This week, Republicans -aided by Democratic fecklessness-bargained away both liberty and decency in the name of partisan security
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 09/29/06
Without a vote, citizens have no voice
Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman says restoring voting rights would “strengthen our democracy and enhance public safety,” in this Providence Journal op-ed.
Authored by: Col. Dean Esserman, H. Phillip West
– 09/25/06
American Detainees Face Grave Injustice
More than two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. Bush that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have the right to challenge their detention in federal court through habeas corpus. No longer, the court said, could Guantanamo operate as a prison beyond the law.
Authored by: Jonathan Hafetz
– 09/22/06
Derelict on Detainees
Yesterday, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted out a bill labeled “the Military Commission Act of 2006.” Media attention in leading East and West Coast papers generally lauded the senators’ supposed new-found spine, standing up to the president’s suggested rules on military commissions for alleged terrorists seized overseas. But is this really a victory for measured moderation? On closer inspection, it turns out the bill that came out of committee is, in most important respects, practically a blank check when it comes to executive detention authority.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 09/15/06
Thinking Beyond Violence
The practice ofextraordinary rendition has left a trail of broken lives in its wake. The Canadian citizen Mahar Arar and the German citizen Khaled Masri are but the two most well-known examples. Worse, extraordinary rendition inflicts incalculable harm on countries that cooperate with the United States. It strengthens undemocratic, brutal Middle Eastern dictatorships, including, ironically, some of the regimes that first spawned the cancer of transnational jihadism. Islamists such as Hasan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb, precursors to Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, were reactions to those regimes’ repressive policies. America’s continued support of undemocratic regimes, and its failure to support real democracies, is today tilling the soil once more for a new crop of jihadists.
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 09/11/06
Thinking Beyond Violence
Authored by: Aziz Huq
– 09/11/06
The Busy Season
Congress returns from recess this month to confront fundamental questions presented by the president’s five-year long global “war on terrorism.” On the table is nothing less than the future scope of presidential power, with battles looming over military trials, detainee treatment, and domestic surveillance. In the past several months, courts have dealt the administration a series of setbacks on these issues. Undeterred, the president intends to reverse those defeats by asking lawmakers for even greater authority. The ball is now in their court.
Authored by: Jonathan Hafetz
– 09/05/06
Court Needs Racial Diversity
– 09/03/06