Enemy of the People is a play written by Henrik Ibsen, in which the protagonist is a doctor who discovers that the water supply for newly constructed mineral baths has been polluted by waste from the local tannery. When he attempts to warn the local citizenry of the danger, he is treated as a pariah by the everyone who has invested in the baths or is depending upon them to reverse the economic fortunes of the town. Ultimately the doctor and his family are, in effect, forced to flee the town he loves after he is labeled an “enemy of the people” by all those who do not want the truth about the contaminated baths revealed.
But in the last few days an “enemy of the people” has come to acquire a new meaning, one having absolutely nothing to do with a 19th Century work of literary fiction, and everything to do with your (now much reduced) rights as a free citizen of these United States:
The compromise legislation, which is racing toward the White House, authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights.
This dangerous compromise not only authorizes the president to seize and hold terrorists who have fought against our troops “during an armed conflict,” it also allows him to seize anybody who has “purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.” This grants the president enormous power over citizens and legal residents. They can be designated as enemy combatants if they have contributed money to a Middle Eastern charity, and they can be held indefinitely in a military prison.
I believe that this legislation, now all but assured of passage by Congress without any amendment to ameliorate its worst excesses, is far worse than Professor Ackerman describes in that portion of his op-ed I have excerpted above. There is no provision in the bill that I have seen which defines what constitutes the type of conduct necessary to qualify someone as having “purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.” Therefore, I doubt this language is limited to contributions to charities with ties to suspected terrorists. Arguably, the definition is open ended, and its meaning is one which is at the discretion of the executive branch (i.e., President Bush).
Literally, we are now all at the mercy of this rogue President. Who can predict what limits, if any, he will place on the exercise of this power so wantonly surrendered to him by Congress. I cannot. But I have my suspicions.
(Continued, with an Update, below the fold)
For starters, perhaps anyone who leaks information about secret government surveillance programs. Or maybe anyone who leaks classified intelligence estimates which paint a less rosy picture of the War on Terror than the one Tony Snow is designated to dispense each and every day to a subservient White House Press corps. Or perhaps, anyone who aids in the dissemination of such state secrets, like journalists, news organizations and even liberal bloggers. Or maybe anyone who is foolish enough to protest the war, or our dear leader, in public.
In truth, we don’t know what this administration might consider constitute acts which “materially supported hostilities against the United States.” The phrase is too vague and ambiguous to provide me any comfort. It can mean whatever the people who have the power to enforce this law want it to mean. And that means whatever Bush or Cheney or Rumsfeld or Rove decides is in their best interest that it mean. And if you are deemed to be an “enemy combatant” it won’t matter if your ancestors came over here on the Mayflower, if you were sworn in as a naturalized citizen last Friday or if you are here illegally. In each case you will be treated the same.
You will be arrested, but not charged. You will be detained, but not offered a trial (or at least not a real trial, a trial by a jury of your peers as specified in the 6th Amendment). You will have no recourse to the federal courts to protest your innocence. You will be, for all intents and purposes, a cipher, a nowhere man or woman, without any rights, without any dignity, subject to daily abuse, humiliation and even torture at the whim of your jailers.
You see it now? Each of us, everyone who opposes this administration, is now a potential Enemy of the People. All it takes is for the “Decider” or his minions to determine that your actions pose a threat to them. And presto chango, you lose everything that matters to you. Your life, your liberty, your family, your friends. You will disappear into the bowels of the State Security Apparatus never to be seen or heard from again.
For they own us. We no longer live in a free society. The times, they are a changin. Better get used to it, because it’s only going to get worse.
Update [2006-9-28 19:14:39 by Steven D]: I’m not the only one wondering who will get tagged with the enemy combatant label.
So … is it possible that one day in the not-so-distant future, federal agents will start snatching up environmental activists (who allegedly are or support terrorists) and locking them away indefinitely without trial?
Perhaps I’m being cynical, or paranoid. But let me ask you: is there enough paranoia and cynicism in even the blackest human heart with which to properly assess America’s current ruling party?
into power by a lie-down Reichstag.
I feel as if they are readying the camps for all of us right now.
Sheesh ,thinkign along the exact same lines that I was. I guess it’s only natural
What can anyone say? It’s terrible to think that Americans could be capable of so willfully disregarding other people’s lives.
Wonder if this is how many felt right before the Weimar Republic fell?
Also posted at My Left Wing
The time has now come when the word disappear has become a verb.
I don’t even know what to say. I can’t even think. I’m stunned, horrified, torn apart. The bitch of it is, when I bring this up in conversation, a large percentage of people will say, “No, that can’t be true, you must be exaggerating! They couldn’t do that!”
It’s going to take a while, probably until some time after the elections, for this to truly sink in to the collective consciousness.
And before that happens, I’m sure new election laws will be on the table. And congress will pass them, as long as they get to keep their seats.
it’ll start in December, spring at the latest.
But yeah, they’ll start arresting people.
There are a few provisions in the Medicare Modernization act that don’t take effect until then. Also remember that some very critical ones have been considered to be “administrative regulations” or are “supposedly” being implemented by the insurance carriers.
Looks like Torture Law illegal according to treaty…
“…The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was signed by the U.S. in 1992 and outlaws torture or degrading treatment.
The treaty mandates signatories to submit reports on their compliance with the treaty every five years to the Human Rights Committee, which reviews reports and presents its findings to the United Nations….”
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1029-03.htm
US Constitution says treaty obligations take precedence over all Congressional action.
From the text of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
“Article 7
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.”
http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm
The terms of the 1992 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights take precedence. Congress can’t pass a law that violates a ratified treaty. The Torture Law is voided. The new law will be wiped from the books as if it were never passed.
That assumes it will ever reach the courts.
This a no-brainer emergency injuction. Same day the President signs the bill, the Constitution is basically thrown into crisis.
There is no more of a cut and dried cause for granting an emergency injunction than this.
A good attorney has an emergency injunction against the Torture Law same day as Dubya signs it.
Let’s all hope the justices see this and seize upon it, AFS.
I listened to All Things Considered today, they were worried that the bill it gives the President power to seize any non-citizen he wants and hold them forever. Not sure if this was a late change or NPR’s interpretation is wrong. I don’t feel any safer either way, if they can’t come for me under this law I’m sure they will remedy their mistake with the next one.
The Republican spin is that it only applies to non-citizens, but there’s nothing in the language of the bill I’ve seen that makes that limitation.
UNFUNDED MANDATE, budget cuts….
Shit.
Once any American citizens have been designated as “enemies” they are stripped of citizenship.
Subsection 4(b) (26) of section 950v. of HR 6166 – Crimes triable by military commissions – includes the following definition.
“Any person subject to this chapter who, in breach of an allegiance or duty to the United States, knowingly and intentionally aids an enemy of the United States, or one of the co-belligerents of the enemy, shall be punished as a military commission under this chapter may direct.”
Citizens of this country have an allegiance or duty to the United States. This section essentially opens the door to strip citizenship.
And to be designated there only needs to be the suspicion. In effect, guilty until proven innocent with no way to prove innocence before you are stuck in the tribunal system.
Not to mention:
“SEC. 10. DETENTION COVERED BY REVIEW OF DECISIONS OF COMBATANT STATUS REVIEW TRIBUNALS OF PROPRIETY OF DETENTION.
Section 1005(e)(2)(B)(i) of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (title X of Public Law 109-148; 119 Stat. 2742; 10 U.S.C. 801 note) is amended by striking `the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba’ and inserting `the United States’.”
We’re ALL in Gitmo now.
http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/olc/docs/PL109-148.pdf
Section 1005(e)(2)(B)(i) of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 starts at the last line on page 63 and is titled:
Judicial Review of Detention of Enemy Combatants
Welcome to a dictatorship run by the same people who committed 9/11 as the means of bringing it about.
BTW, 20 years ago when I was on the board of directors of an environmental group, I tried to get them to show “An Enemy of the People” as a fundraiser (we had a grant to work on groundwater contamination at the time – a perfect fit), but they chose “Koyaanisqatsi” instead.
You can download “An Enemy of the People” or read it on line here. Enjoy it while you can… Ironically, this is Banned Books Week: Might be time to squirrel some copies of your favorites behind the sheet rock…
Or memorize them a la Fahrenheit 451 . . .
Well. . .all we left wing, administration hating bloggers certainly moved up near the top of the list. Can’t be sure if we are right a head of any journalist that critisizes or just after them, but we are there.
And oh those pesky demonstrators. . .they have to be at or near the top.
Now that the prez has sole authority to “decide” everything and RETROACTIVELY, so with total immunity,I think the Reps are very confident about the pre-determined election results. . .they would never want a Dem President to have this type of power. They don’t expect there ever to be one elected again.
Now I’m thinking of Canada instead of Oregon.
I wish I was suprised.
America died quiet some time ago … it’s just that the rot is beginning to smell enough that more people finally recognize it.
Yep. This turned out exactly as I thought it would: no surprise here, either. This is all nothing but a very bad stage play: the outcome was already decided.
Just Swell! See ya all soon!
I am so tired from working 2 and 3 jobs today that I can’t even have an emotion over this. I’m struggling so hard just to pay my rents and keep my business alive, I can’t muster the energy to do something. I wrote my senators earlier this week, and they both voted against this killing of human rights, but alas, it’s too late.
We have mass murderers in the White House. Addington, Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, and all the rest. Arrest the Real Criminals!