The Military Commissions Act of 2006: Now is probably a good time to panic.

[openspace4life]

You've heard of the Nuclear Doomsday Clock? Well, twelve days ago, the American Fascism Clock was brought forward to about three seconds to midnight. And I haven't posted about it until now.

My only excuse is that I'm still in shock. I ask myself, what could possibly have been the motive behind Congress's insane willingness, in the name of "fighting terrorism," to unblinkingly vote into law a piece of legislation that:

• allows the President to unilaterally broaden the definition of "unlawful enemy combatant" and narrow the meaning of "illegal torture" as much as he likes?



• allows the government to hold terrorism suspects indefinitely without trial?



• denies such suspects the right to challenge their detention (the writ of Habeas Corpus)?
  
  
• also denies such suspects any right to see the evidence used against them?



• legalizes closed-door tribunals where evidence obtained under "treatment formerly defined as torture" is admissible?*



• retroactively forgives any government officials who performed previously criminal acts that this bill will legalize?



• preemptively prohibits any judicial review of this law?**

And yet the Military Commissions Act of 2006 does all of these things, probably even to US citizens (please correct me if I'm wrong), and thanks to the convenient sex scandal that erupted at around the same time, practically nobody has even noticed.

Update, 2/24/2007: Here's what you can do about it.


*Even though such evidence would consist mainly of whatever the detainee in question thinks his/her interrogators want to hear. This is especially true of an actual hardened terrorist, who probably knows how to make interrogators believe that he/she has been broken, without actually giving them any useful information.

**Although my dad says this part is unlikely to hold up in court...