We'll miss you 6th Amendment!

The U.S. Senate voted this week to pass the new "terror trial bill" which will allow individuals who are detained under suspicion of terrorism, specifically those being help at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be tried by a special military tribunal instead of the a civil court in front of a jury.

The 6th Amendment states:

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."

The first thing that is unconstitutional about this new law is the fact that these suspects are not being given the right to a jury. They are being tried by military personal who are far from impartial. Not to be cynical but something tells me that a member of the armed forces may not be completely impartial towards someone accused (it's important to remember that these people have not been found guilty of anything) of killing American soldiers or plotting to.

Also they are not being informed of "the nature and cause of the accusation" in most cases. They are simply arrested for "suspicion of terrorist activity". How much more fague can you be?

The next part I am not sure of yet but I am researching and maybe someone knows the answer to this. Are these suspects being allowed to bring witnesses on their behalf? And are they being allowed access to legal council? Like I said, not sure of the answer, but trying to find out.

Then of course their is the big part of this Amendment the right to a "speedy and public trial" These suspects are not being allowed a public trial and considering most have been detained for years I would say that it is far from speedy.

Now even if you are able to look past this somehow their is one other thing. The writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum has been used since long before the U.S. was a country and has been celebrated as one of the best ways to protect freedom for centuries. The U.S. has a law which makes this not just an idea, but legally binding.

This writ allows an individual who has been detained but not yet proven guilty of a crime the right to challenge the legality of their detention. The bill that just passed in the Senate does not allow prisoners to call for habeas corpus, a clear violation of civil liberties, even if not Constitutional Liberties. The right to challenge your arrest is what keeps our legal system fair. Those who are arresting know that they can be asked to prove that they had justification to detain someone and therefore they are more likely to ensure that they actually have reason. Take this away and you have situations like the detention of Maher Arar who was detained and tortured on suspicion of terrorism when he had no real ties to terrorism at all. While mistakes like this may still happen at least with habeas corpus he would have had the opportunity to challenge his arrest and possibly shown then that he did not have any real ties, ending that horrible ordeal before it began.

It is imperative that those of us who still believe in freedom to stand up and let the Administration and Congress know that we will not allow them to take anymore of our freedoms away. Although this has now been passed in Congress and is expected to be signed by the President it can still be challenged by the ultimate protector of freedom The Supreme Court. Although I originally was worried with some of the nominations last year I have been happy to see that the Court has upheld the freedoms of the people non-politically the way that it was meant to do. I urge all of you to please write to the Supreme Court and urge them to challenge this new law and protect the 6th Amendment. Letters can be sent to:

Public Information Officer
Supreme Court of the United States
Washington, DC 20543

Please take part in this very important issue.

Iraq inflating terrorism

Well folks I've been saying it for years and now the intelligence community is confirming it. A report was declassified this week that in a nutshell stated two things. First, that while we have caused major damage to terror networks they continue to stay in power because new leaders are coming into power. And second that a major cause of that is the Iraqi War.

I am not the only one that has said this for a very long time. Their have been so many blog debates regarding this topic that it would be impossible to read them all. But the entire time their were those, especially in the Administration who continued to stand by the belief that the Iraqi war is fighting, not causing terrorism. I have even been called unpatriotic and a soldier hater for my views regarding this.

The question is why is this a surprise? Why are there people who are actually shocked to hear that those in the intelligence sector may thing that Iraq spawns terrorism. Have Americans been so brainwashed by Bush's "every thing's going great" rhetoric that they can not see the simple logic behind this statement.

Think about it logically for a second. We invaded a sovereign nation. We then began occupying that nation turning a deaf hear to the please from it's citizens for us to leave. To makes matters even better we started torturing those citizens as well as other Muslims around the world. Add in a little rape and mass murder and you have a terrorist recruiters best ad campaign. All the Osama bin Laden's of the world have to do is point to Iraq and say "hey see what those American dogs will do if we let them" and the recruits come flocking towards them. History has proven time and time again that the oppression of a certain sect of people or a nation for the gain of others never works, and almost always backlashes against the oppressor.

Now don't take what I am saying to mean that I think our soldiers are oppressing the people of Iraq, I don't. I think that our current administration is, I think our military leadership is, but I do not think that the common soldier is. I think most soldiers are doing their job either because they truly want to help the people of Iraq and/or truly believe that they are keeping America safe or that they are following orders even though they do not agree with them because they are loyal to their country, and I highly respect them for this. I do not think however that our leaders have done them justice, and it's a shame.

The thing that is important to remember is that regardless of your intentions, good or bad, it is your actions the determine if a group of people will consider you an oppressor. Regardless of whether the U.S. Military in Iraq and the administration back home are trying to oppress the people of Iraq their actions make it seem as if they are. Any time you use torture and fear to reach a goal this is going to be the reaction. Anytime that the few bad apples of the military who commit atrocities that truly do not reflect the military as a whole (the rape of Iraqi women for example) and are not punished to the fullest extent of the law the message is sent that this must be acceptable to all of the brave soldiers in Iraq.

Now I am sure that you are thinking that a rational person would see that this is not the case, that most soldiers are just there to help and that the American people as a whole do not want an occupation of Iraq, but just want to help them rebuild. But understand that someone who just saw their best friend killed, or watched the neighborhood that they grew up in get blown up is not rational. Someone who has no money, no education available, and no way out is not thinking rationally when the "terrorist recruiter" comes along and tells them about how bad the U.S. is.

What they see is someone who can give them something the U.S. is not giving. Protection from the death squads and destruction in Iraq, and a chance to escape. Sure that escape might be for their family after they sacrifice themselves to detonate a bomb, but in their mind at least their family will be safe, and free. Whether they are right or wrong, whether you think they are completely ignorant to think this way, there is one inescapable fact. And that is that anytime you put someone in a situation were they have nothing to loose they will listen to the first person who gives them hope, in this life or the next. Right now their is no hope for those in Iraq, and the only ones talking are the terrorist, so the people are listening.

There is only one way to stop that and that is to change the way we approach our foreign policy when it comes to Muslim nations and when it comes to Iraq. Instead of automatically assuming that any group that takes up arms and is Muslim is a terrorist organization and automatically siding with the other side (i.e. Israel in their recent invasion of Lebanon) actually attempt to see why they are taking up arms and try to fix the problem instead of just condemning them and killing them.

Instead of trying to set up a puppet government in Iraq let the Iraqi people actually have a voice, and protect them from those who would try to take it away instead of standing by as those who are not of the right religious sect are killed by radicals. (Baghdad Burning's blog gives a very in depth and grim explanation of why I say this.)

And finally, if they want to separate let them! If the Iraqi people want to form three separate states, one for each major religious sect, LET THEM! It's their country, not ours. We have no right in telling them that they should be forced to stay together. What is the point of forcing three groups that obviously want their own government's to stay under the rule of one unpopular government. The only logical explanation I have been able to come up with as to why the U.S. is so adamant about Iraq staying as one nation even though the people seem to make it clear that they would like it otherwise is oil. It is easier to negotiate with one puppet government than three government that are not controlled by the U.S.

Be back with real topics tommorow.

I know that it's been a few days since I posted anything big, but that will change tomorrow. I have been very busy getting the new site up and writing the material for that so I have not had time to post here. I will let you know that tomorrow you can look forward to a post on the Iraq War's effect on terrorism (something I've been talking about for ages) as well as a few other things. Until then.

Bill

NEW WEB SITE!

Well we finally have at least the beginning stages of the new website the American Patriot Legion up and running. Please stop by and check it out!

I have to thank Steve over at Web611 for all of his help designing the site. (I should say for designing it period as he did all of the designing, I just watched in awe)

Although they can design sites of any kind I do know that hey specialize in Real Estate sites and I would definitely recommend them to anyone in this field.

Currently the site is in it's very early stages so if you have any suggestions please feel free to contact me at bill@americanpatriotlegion.org, but please be kind.

SAVE THE INTERNET!

Just when I thought that Congress could not find any other way to incrouch upon the Civil Liberties that we hold dear in this fine country they're at it again. The Target this time, The Internet. The holy grail of free speech. The one place were anybody and everybody can put their views up for the whole world to see without limitation and without censor, or at least that is how it is for now.

If Congress has there way companies such as AT&T and Comcast will have the right to decide what you do and do not have access to online. This is decpicable to the core. It is true that there are things online that if I had a child I would not want them to see them, so I would block them out myself, I don't need a company to do it for me.

I urge all readers to do one of, or all of these few things:

First, boycott AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner (the companies backing this attack on freedom) and make sure they know that the reason you are doing it is because you don't believe that a large company should control what can and can't be seen online in order to fatten their profit margin, or for any other reason for that matter.

Second, find out more about this very important issue by checking out these great sites that are heading up the fight to save the internet and become educated on the issues and what you can do:

www.savetheinternet.com
www.moveon.org
www.freepress.com

And finally make sure and either sign the petitions avialable online at these sites or contact Congress and let them know that you support those politicians that want to Save the Internet.

The wars real cost

The U.N. Assistance Mission reported today that the civilian death toll in Iraq is at an all time high, an overwhelming number of displaced citizens, and a slide back into a state of mind which allows for the murder of women for "honor".

I know that many who read my post on a regular basis are probably thinking that this is about to be a post on how bad things are being run right now in Iraq, but at the moment there are enough people talking about that and there is a much larger issue that I feel should be discussed. That is the true cost of this war. I am not talking about dollars and cents, or machinery and bullets. I am talking about the human cost. A cost that we have not truly heard about from the mass media until this report. I have, in the past, searched long and hard to find out the death toll of citizens in Iraq and could only find estimates from private relief organizations because accurate figures were either a) not being kept (which I find hard to believe) or b) were not being published in the U.S. because the government was leaning on the Media. I am glad to see that this is no longer the case.

The report is clear and well reported on here for those who have not had a chance to look at it, and because of this I do not wish to rehash what is said in the article. Instead I would like to discuss what I feel needs to be done now that this very grim report is out.

The first step that must be taken is the U.S. needs to admit that we do not have the control that we would like to think we do on the security in Iraq and we need to fix it. I do not have the audacity to claim that I have a perfect solution for how to increase security, but I know that there are those who have at least some idea of what to do, but the first step is actually admitting we have a problem. It is very hard to ask other countries to assist us in securing Iraq when we claim that everything is going wonderfully and we have it completely under control. If Bush would simply stand up and say "I was wrong, and we need help to make sure that Iraqi citizens are safe" I am sure that countries who have been very weary of helping to much because of the mess we started in Iraq would be willing to help. And I know that my respect for him would increase dramatically. The fact is as long as we keep trying to hide that the situation is FUBAR the deeper a hole we will dig.

Second, instead of simply labeling anyone who disagrees with the U.S. presence in Iraq a terrorist actually hear what they have to say. It is true that some of those who are fighting, and or instigating the fighting in Iraq would do so no matter what. But when was the last time that you heard of U.S. and U.S. backed Iraqi officials actually trying to talk peace with any of the groups fighting us. It would seem to me that it would be a good idea to at least attempt to open up communications with them. The one thing that seems to be universally known is that a large portion of the population believes that we are oppressors who are occupying their country. There is obviously a reason for this beyond our troops being there. It seems to me that if we were actively rebuilding the country and attempting to help the citizens of Iraq that a larger number of them would support the occupation, at least until they could stand on there own. The simple fact is that most do not because they do not feel that the U.S. cares about what is in their best interest, change this mindset and a lot of lives could be saved.

STOP TORTURING PEOPLE! I'll just be blunt here because I have written about this in length many times. The fact is as long as we are torturing people, or condoning the torture of people Death Sqauds and revenge killings will continue. We cannot, with any credibility, say that we are there to help the people rebuild their country after the oppression of Saddam if we are doing the same things he was. As long as we continue to harvest this kind of animosity there will always be a long line of people ready to sign up to fight against us. (It's hard to recruit someone to support your cause of peace if he knows that a week before a person from the same area was tortured because he was a suspected insurgent.)

This is the last suggestion I have. Hire a publicist. Okay this may sound a bit funny but think about it. Every time something bad happens we all hear about it. Hey I admit that I write about them and I am glad that these things come out, it is the only way that we can make improvements and hopefully learn from our mistakes. But the same should go the other way. And I don't mean here. I mean there, in Iraq. In all honesty the mindset of Americans as to the war doesn't mean didly squat when it comes to the streets of Baghdad. Yes it makes a difference in the moral of our troops but honestly if they can't already see that the war has gone to hell nothing the media is saying right now will change their minds anyway. My point is to try stopping the killing and what CNN says about the mental deficiencies of our President (or what they should say anyway, sorry I had to get at least one stab at him in here) makes no difference to a 25 year old in Baghdad who is being asked to join up with the insurgents to fight against the American invaders who are destroying his homeland and who don't care about him at all. Not saying that that is truly the case, but that is what he hears, because he only hears from one side. The people who do want to keep the killing going because they truly are sick individuals (the every day insurgent only fights because he has been made to believe the things I wrote in that last sentence) have the propaganda war in Iraq won by a long shot, because we have never tried to win it ourselves. If you would like a good idea of what the people of Iraq are feeling simply look at this blog.... http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/.... which is written by a women in Iraq.

We have the largest media industry in the world. We have more publicist in the state of California alone than probably most other countries combined. So let's put them to use. Let's get adds circulating around Iraq that show the positive side of the U.S. being in Iraq. Bush is always telling us about the things that are being built there and the fresh water and the power and whatever else, tell them, they are the ones who need to hear it. I don't know what the best way to do it would be, because I am not a publicist, but I guarantee there are those who would have some great ideas if they were asked. Maybe it's time to ask.

Regardless of whether any of these ideas sound like they are worth a damn to you I am sure that we can all agree that 3000 people dyeing in one month, and who knows how many injuries (and that not being the highest) is a crisis of utmost proportion and something needs to be done. Forget the partisan lines, forget the religious differences, we need to work together to find a way to keep more innocent people from dyeing.

On a closing note...It is very easy for us to simply not think about the human cost of a war like this. Sure we get worried when we hear about the military casualty rates, because we most likely either know someone in the military or know someone who does and so we are worried about them getting hurt. It is also very easy to worry about the fiscal cost of a war like this because we see the cost of gas and the inflation on a daily basis. It is a little bit harder to think about a person thousands of miles away who we will never meet and who we will never know. But keep this in mind, these deaths are not those of people who are fighting, but of innocent women, children, and men. Next time you see your neighbor or even your child think about how it would feel to wake up tomorrow and find out that they were shot, or blown up, or worse yet unknown because they can't be found among the bodies. Think about what it would feel like to go to school and find out it was no longer there because it was blown up, along with many people the day before. When you walk into a restaurant for lunch think about how it would feel to not be able to eat is peace because you were worried about a bomb going off at any moment, or worse yet not being able to eat at all because you don't have access to food. This post is not to lay blame, but only to hopefully help in some small way to open people's eyes to a major crisis for humanity.

If you do feel like something should be done, and you would like to help I urge you to visit the site below which contains links and information on many reputable aid orginizations. They are working to ease the suffering of the innocent civilians in Iraq and could use all of the help that they can get. Thank you.

http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/international/iraq/

Is the Pope's apology enough?

In a speech last week, the Pope cited a Medieval text that characterized some of the
teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his
command to spread by the sword the faith."

This is what started the issue, the current status...The Pope made a public apology stating that he was "deeply sorry" that Muslims had taken offense. Some are questioning if this is a sufficient apology to the Muslim community especially on the brink of his first trip into a Muslim country since his becoming Pope.

Here is my take on this. His apology is technically enough. He is saying that he did not mean to cause any offense and that is really all that is "technically" required. However in a situation as this a little more give on his end might be a good idea.

It is true that he was not referring to his own views when he cited the text, however by using it he should have had the forethought to see that it could cause offense to the Muslim community. Especially given that has a Cardinal the Pope spent a good amount of effort attempting to keep Turkey out of the EU. Whether his comments had anything to do with this or not he now needs to consider that it does make him look a bit bad to have done that and now to say something that makes him look very anti-Muslim while at the same time stating that he want to coexist with Islam.

I am of two minds on this. The first tells me that what he has offered as an apology is enough and the Muslim community should be open minded enough to accept it. The other tells me that if he is sincere in his apology it would do no harm, and a lot of good, for him to make the apology a bit more clear and personal. Something along the lines of "I am truly sorry that I offended the Muslim community, it was not my intention and I will be more sensitive in the future as we continue to work together for a peaceful coexistence." rather than something that could be interpreted as him saying that he's sorry that they got offended, but not that he said it.

Just my two cents on this issue.

Maybe now they will listen

I would love to begin this post by saying that everybody now agreed that torture should never be used to get information out of prisoners, and that we has a nation had already come out strong against it and apologized for our previous use of it, however, that is only wishful thinking. Instead of a happy post about how we have righted our wrongs since the illegal detention and torture of Canadian citizen Maher Arar this post is once more hoping that this latest bit of information on the use of torture by the U.S. Government will open the eyes of those who have thus far continued to defend the use of torture as a means of interrogation.

This all started in 2002 when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police informed, incorrectly, the U.S. that Arar was on a watch list for possible links to al-Quida. In fact Arar was not under investigation, but had simply had brief contact with someone who was. This was a mistake on Canada's part, and they are taking responsibility for this mistake. As a matter of fact it was there investigation into the matter that showed that they were at fault in this manner. Had the mistake ended there however it would have been no problem. The U.S. would have kept a close eye on Arar while he was in the U.S. on vacation, seen nothing wrong, and let him return home without further issue. This is how it should have occurred. He should have been given his right to freedom the same way anyone else is until they are proven guilty of a crime. This, however, is not what happened.

What did happen was he was detained by the U.S. government and then sent to Syria where he was held and tortured for a year before he was released and his innocence was proven. The investigation by the Canadian government into this incident showed that not did he have no connection to al-Quida, but there was no evidence to suggest he did.

Now I know that there are some who are reading this and bursting to say, but Canada said he was under investigation for possible links and we just took there word on it, and if he was al-Quida torturing him might have stopped a terrorist attack so it was okay to try.

A few things wrong with that argument. First of all since when is suspicion, understand they had not proven a link, they were simply investigating a possible one, of a crime justify arrest and detention without a trial or that crime being proven in any way. I thought that our laws, heck our Constitution (sixth amendment for those who don't know), stated that a person had the right to a "fair and speedy trial" and that individuals could not be held without being charged of a crime. Of course the case of Jose Padilla proved that we don't extend that courtesy to our own citizens so why would we bother extending it to foreign visitors. Amazingly enought at the same time that we are doing such atrocities on our own soil we are condemning China for it's unlawful arrest of individuals...

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos condemned Chen's jailing on "questionable charges" and called on Beijing to release him and stop
harassing his family.
"We are concerned that Chen's arrest, the detention of his lawyers and the reported detention of another activist Gao Zhisheng appear part of a larger pattern of official harassment of individuals working to advocate for the legal rights of their fellow citizens," Gallegos told reporters.

First though let me clarify the other major issue with the argument that I know many will retort with. That is the part of that argument that states that "torturing him might have stopped a terrorist attack and then it would have been worth it." WRONG! I don't care what the circumstance, what the possible risk, or what the possible reward, torture IS NEVER ACCEPTABLE. Regardless of what information a person may have that could be used by us they are still a person, end of story. Humanity demands that we treat them with at least a shred of decency. Torture is such a horrid form of interrogation that every major country in the world agreed to outlaw it in the Geneva convention. Plus I seem to remember a few of the pro-war folks in the early days of the Iraqi war saying that one of the reasons we should be there is the inhumane way that Saddam treated his people, one of the reasons for this statement was that he tortured his people to get information from them and as punishment. So.....wrong for them, okay for us?

Even if we step back and forget about the inhumanity of torture, it's simply illogical as a form of interrogation. It has been proven that a person in a situation as painful and stressful as someone being tortured will say anything to get the pain to stop. ANYTHING. Not the truth, not information that will stop an attack, whatever pops into their mind that they think the interrogator will believe. They will indicate anyone, give false plans, whatever they have to do. Every time in history that torture has been used to gleam information from prisoners false information has been given. I am not saying that it always will be, you may get lucky and get some people to give real information, but the success rate if very low. Especially when you consider the fact that the people who would actually have the information a) are higher up and most likely not the ones we have and b) are fanatics who believe that they are suffering for a righteous cause and believe that if they last through that suffering without giving up God's plan they will be rewarded in death. Whether their belief is right or wrong (and trust me I believe it to be wrong) history has shown that this kind of belief will keep a person from cracking under the worst conditions.

Now to the most important part of this post. There is one other glaring problem with the unlawful detention and torture of citizens from other countries. We are quickly alienating ourselves from our allies. It is very hard for us to request that a country return a U.S. prisoner caught on their soil for some sort of crime to be tried in our courts when we do not extend the same courtesy to them. It is very hard for us to request the humane treatment of our captured soldiers when we torture the people that we capture, because like it or not the people we are fighting consider them soldiers and they will treat ours like we treat theirs. The point, if we wish to put our citizens and soldiers lives and well being at risk every time they are arrested or captured in another country the torturing is not an issue in this way. However, if we would like to guarantee the humane treatment of our citizens and soldiers we must first show that we are willing to do the same.