Sunday, November 04, 2007

The Padilla Omen!

Commentary by: Mumia Abu-Jamal

"Logic is an enemy, and truth is a menace."


[The Twilight Zone]
Knowing what we now know about the lies that led to a war that has meant death for tens of thousands of people, can you blindly trust the government? Can any court that claims to defend the Constitution allow an American citizen to be consigned to a U.S. dungeon, simply on the president's say-so? If the *Padilla* case is any example, the answer is yes. The implications of this should send shivers down your spine. This Government, which has brought Chaos into being since its 'election', now decides who it can detain, and why. Essentially forever. This is a judicially-approved recipe for Madness.

"There is no bar to this Nation's holding one of its own citizens as an enemy combatant. In [*Exparte] Quirin*, [a case involving Nazi saboteurs--maj], one of the detainees, Haupt, alleged that he was a naturalized United States citizen... We held that '[c]itizens who associate themselves with the military arm of the enemy governments, and with its aid, guidance and direction enter this country bent on hostile acts, are enemy belligerents within the meaning of ... the law of war.' ... While Haupt was tried for violations of the law of war, nothing in *Quirin* suggests that his citizenship would have precluded his mere detention for the duration of the relevant hostilities." [2004 WL 1431951 *8]

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