Is it just me, or does everybody find this as sad and disappointing as I do?
The Obama administration, siding with the Bush White House, contended Friday that detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.
In a two-sentence court filing, the Justice Department said it agreed that detainees at Bagram Airfield cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention. The filing shocked human rights attorneys.
“The hope we all had in President Obama to lead us on a different path has not turned out as we’d hoped,” said Tina Monshipour Foster, a human rights attorney representing a detainee at the Bagram Airfield. “We all expected better.”
[…]
“They’ve now embraced the Bush policy that you can create prisons outside the law,” said Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has represented several detainees.
Oh well. I’m sure there’s a rationalization for it.
Not just you,
there seems to be a pattern at the justice department of following the Bush administration’s lead.
Obviously, Holder needs some time to get hold of the reins. But this is not the change we voted for. Can we get habeas corpus back too, soon please?
The left has to make a stink. I know Sen. Feingold called on Obama to make “restoring the rule of law” a priority for his adminstration (http://feingold.senate.gov/releases/08/12/20081210.html) and I am looking to Feingold for concrete proposals on what Obama should do.
All I know is that our government does make mistakes in the war on terror and without their day in court, these mistakes will never be sorted out. The truth is what we need. Fairness enhances our security.
Obama has a lot on his plate and perhaps he’ll still get around to doing the right thing in this area but right now, he needs to be pushed and criticized on this.
i find it sad, indeed. The rule of law is not something that can be delayed. It either exists or it doesn’t.
P.S. Over 4000 comments over at Huffpo on the subject. I don’t think we are alone.
Bigger
Lee Camp
Comedian, LeeCamp.net
Posted February 19, 2009 | 10:28 AM (EST)
How the New York Post Monkey Cartoon Should’ve Looked
‘Missing’ singer Rafferty is fine
That’s good. I figured he just wanted to give up the booze and the one night stands, and then settle down in some quiet little town.
Between 70-75 percent who are looking for full-time work still haven’t found new jobs, according to a Saturday report by the Wall St. Journal.
“That ‘is much, much worse’ than when Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton left the White House,” Carlos M. Gutierrez, who served as Bush’s commerce secretary, told the paper.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/For_exBush_officials_nearly_75_percent_0221.html
The jobs situation is like musical chairs. Only, half of the chairs have been taken away instead of just one. :smack:
What is wrong with people? First the monkey cartoon. Now this “poll” in U.S. News .
There’s a large quotient of bone-headed nincompoops around these days.
On a whim went to see Julie tonight…Makes me want to brush up on my Gaelic. :knit: :banana: :dancers: