Dave Chandler, candidate for U.S. House in the 7th CD, today called upon all other contenders for this office to repudiate the "Military Commissions Act" and reject endorsements from representatives that voted for it.
"Unless you believe that the central government of the United States is infallible, never makes a mistake, then rejecting habeas corpus in this legislation is a terrible violation of one of the great principles upon which this nation was founded," said Chandler. "Imagine that a human being held by the U.S. government at Guantanamo or some other secret prison is completely innocent -- how horrible is it that there is no way for this injustice to be remedied because Bush has thrown habeas corpus into the trash."
Chandler pointed out that the Declaration of Independence says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
"The magnificence of the American Revolution was an insistence that there were values and principles that applied to all human beings on this Earth," explained Chandler. "The founders of our country understood that there couldn't be infallible kings or governments. It was the concept of universal human rights and that all people are equal before the law that made American democracy unique and special."
"And now Bush, radical Republicans and enabling Democrats have thrown those lofty principles in the garbage for reasons of crass, fearmongering politics."
Chandler said that Democrat Ed Perlmutter especially should renounce the endorsement he received from Colorado U.S. Senator Ken Salazar. "Salazar voted for this monstrous legislation. Perlmutter is a lawyer and Salazar is a former Colorado attorney general -- they both should know better."
"Of course, Republican O'Donnell should announce his rejection of this law. In no way is an all-knowing, all-powerful central government a 'conservative' value."
Chandler said that he reaffirms his commitment to the Constitution and the values articulated in the Declaration of Independence. "My candidacy is all about Principle Before Politics. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklins's famous quotation, I have never let Bush fearmongering persuade me that we should put temporary safety over the liberty and freedom that has made this such a great nation."
Vote for freedom and democracy! Vote for Principle Before Politics!
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Chandler for Congress!
Link: Court Told It Lacks Power in Detainee Cases | Washington Post
Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
In a notice dated Wednesday, the Justice Department listed 196 pending habeas cases, some of which cover groups of detainees. The new Military Commissions Act (MCA), it said, provides that "no court, justice, or judge" can consider those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future.
Beyond those already imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere, the law applies to all non-U.S. citizens, including permanent U.S. residents. ...
... Habeas corpus, a Latin term meaning "you have the body," is one of the oldest principles of English and American law. It requires the government to show a legal basis for holding a prisoner. A series of unresolved federal court cases brought against the administration over the last several years by lawyers representing the detainees had left the question in limbo. ...
... A number of legal scholars and members of Congress, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), have said that the habeas provision of the new law violates a clause of the Constitution that says the right to challenge detention "shall not be suspended" except in cases of "rebellion or invasion." Historically, the Constitution has been interpreted to apply equally to citizens and noncitizens under U.S. jurisdiction.
Link: U.S. Jailed Man Once Tortured by Taliban | Associated Press
Abdul Rahim insists he's an apolitical student who fled a strict father. But he's fallen into a black hole in the war on terror in which first the Taliban and then the United States imprisoned him as an enemy of the state.
Arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan in January 2000, Rahim says al-Qaida leaders burned him with cigarettes, smashed his right hand, deprived him of sleep, nearly drowned him and hanged him from the ceiling until he "confessed" to spying for the United States.
U.S. forces took the young Kurd from Syria into custody in January 2002 after the Taliban fled his prison. Accusing him of being an al-Qaida terrorist, U.S. interrogators deprived him of sleep, threatened him with police dogs and kept him in stress positions for hours, he says. He's been held ever since as an enemy combatant.
Rahim's story is one of several emerging from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay as defense lawyers make bids to free their clients while the Bush administration tries to use a new law to lock them out of federal courts.
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