January 13, 2006
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/if-the-law-doesnt-suit-just-ignore-it/2006/01/12/1136956295386.htmlThe way George Bush sees the proper functioning of the US justice system bears a striking similarity to the way the Iraqi justice system functioned under Saddam Hussein. In other words, whatever the President declares to be law, is the law. In that sense the US and the former regime in Iraq enjoyed an unexpected synchronicity.
>>>>Another of the Administration's most creative sleights of hand was to invent the category, unknown to international law, of "enemy combatant", claiming that this class of person fell outside the Geneva protections.
Now it wants to strip the courts of the power to hear appeals from imprisoned petitioners at Guantanamo Bay and is seeking to suspend habeas corpus, which together amount to a violent assault on the ancient bedrock of democracy.
Little wonder, given the reports in the US press recently that Bush had blurted out at a heated White House meeting that the constitution was "just a goddamned piece of paper".
The Bush regime's position is that the President should have the power to arrest and indefinitely hold prisoner anyone, anywhere in the world, without charge and without judicial review. The view from Washington is that checks and balances are for girly-boys. Saddam would approve.
full article:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/if-the-law-doesnt-suit-just-ignore-it/2006/01/12/1136956295386.html