NY Times editors might go to hell for this one

Today the NY Times published a very good list that they call the “Must-Do List”. The list is of things that need to be done to reverse the unwise and lawless policies of Bush and Cheney. Regardless of your political affiliation it is an important list to read. Not just because it is the current trend to hate on the Bush administration, but because it’s important to see some of the ways our rights have been derailed in the past 5 years. Every American should read the list regardless of their opinions on each item.

I am listing each point here, but for the full text of each you’ll want to read the article. Unfortunately, it is not written in the most neutral tone, but the core information it presents is important.

1. Restore Habeus Corpus
From the Military Comissions Act of 2006,
“Except as provided in section 1005 of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.” §1005(e)(1), 119 Stat. 2742.
The catch being that there is no time limit whatsoever on the secret review to determine if you are an enemy combatant. Any person can be secretly held forever awaiting the tribunal before then possibly being denied any legal recourse.

2. Stop Illegal Spying
Mr. Bush’s program of intercepting Americans’ international calls and e-mail messages without a warrant has not ceased.

3. Ban Torture, Really
It allows the president to decide in secret what kinds of treatment he will permit at the Central Intelligence Agency’s prisons.

4. Close the CIA Prisons

5. Account for ‘Ghost Prisoners’
Human Rights Watch says it has identified nearly 40 men and women who have disappeared into secret American-run prisons.

6. Ban Extraordinary Rendition
This is the odious practice of abducting foreign citizens and secretly flying them to countries where everyone knows they will be tortured.

7. Tighten the Definition of Combatant
“Illegal enemy combatant” is assigned a dangerously broad definition in the Military Commissions Act. It allows Mr. Bush — or for that matter anyone he chooses to designate to do the job — to apply this label to virtually any foreigner anywhere, including those living legally in the United States.

8. Screen Prisoners Fairly and Effectively
When the administration began taking prisoners in Afghanistan, it did not much bother to screen them. Hundreds of innocent men were sent to Gitmo, where far too many remain to this day. The vast majority will never even be brought before tribunals and still face indefinite detention without charges.

9. Ban Tainted Evidence
…evidence obtained through physical abuse or coercion.

10. Ban Secret Evidence
Judges are allowed to keep evidence secret from a prisoner’s lawyer if the government persuades the judge it is classified.

11. Better Define ‘Classified’ Evidence

12. Respect the Right to Counsel
Soon after 9/11, the Bush administration allowed the government to listen to conversations and intercept mail between some prisoners and their lawyers.

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I recommend the article in its entirety if you have 2 minutes. You’ll have a bit better understanding of which way our democracy has gone in the past 5 years. Bush said god speaks through him, so the NY Times editors might just be doomed to hell now. Or maybe they are just enemy combatants.

- shawn

[source: ny times]