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9-11 Inside Job and Neocons Hacked 2004
Bush Makes War Powers Permanent
Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring
indefinite state of war
admin
Prison Planet
August 31, 2008
John Byrne
[1] Raw Story
Sunday, Aug 31, 2008
As the nation focuses on Sen. John McCain’s choice of running mate,
President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential
power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war.
Buried in a recent proposal by the Administration is a sentence that
has received scant attention — and was buried itself in the very
newspaper that exposed it Saturday. It is an affirmation that the
United States remains at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and
“associated organizations.”
Part of a proposal for Guantanamo Bay legal detainees, the provision
before Congress seeks to “acknowledge again and explicitly that this
nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the
Taliban, and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed
themselves at war with us and who are dedicated to the slaughter of
Americans.”
The New York Times’ page 8 placement of the article in its Saturday
edition seems to downplay its importance. Such a re-affirmation of
war carries broad legal implications that could imperil Americans’
civil liberties and the rights of foreign nationals for decades to
come.It was under the guise of war that President Bush claimed a
legal mandate for his warrantless wiretapping program, giving the
National Security Agency power to intercept calls Americans made
abroad. More of this program has emerged in recent years, and it
includes the surveillance of Americans’ information and exchanges
online.
“War powers” have also given President Bush cover to hold Americans
without habeas corpus — detainment without explanation or charge.
Jose Padilla, a Chicago resident arrested in 2002, was held without
trial for five years before being convicted of conspiring to kill
individuals abroad and provide support for terrorism.
But his arrest was made with proclamations that Padilla had plans to
build a “dirty bomb.” He was never convicted of this charge.
Padilla’s legal team also claimed that during his time in military
custody — the four years he was held without charge — he was
tortured with sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, forced stress
positions and injected with drugs.
Times reporter Eric Lichtblau notes that the measure is the latest
step that the Administration has taken to “make permanent” key
aspects of its “long war” against terrorism. Congress recently
passed a much-maligned bill giving telecommunications companies
retroactive immunity for their participation in what constitutional
experts see as an illegal or borderline-illegal surveillance
program, and is considering efforts to give the FBI more power in
their investigative techniques.
“It is uncertain whether Congress will take the administration up on
its request,” Lichtblau writes. “Some Republicans have already
embraced the idea, with Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the
ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, introducing a measure
almost identical to the administration’s proposal. ‘Since 9/11,’ Mr.
Smith said, ‘we have been at war with an unconventional enemy whose
primary goal is to kill innocent Americans.’”
If enough Republicans come aboard, Democrats may struggle to defeat
the provision. Despite holding majorities in the House and Senate,
they have failed to beat back some of President Bush’s purported
“security” measures, such as the telecom immunity bill.
Bush’s open-ended permanent war language worries his critics. They
say it could provide indefinite, if hazy, legal justification for
any number of activities — including detention of terrorists
suspects at bases like Guantanamo Bay (where for years the
Administration would not even release the names of those being
held), and the NSA’s warantless wiretapping program.
Lichtblau co-wrote the Times article revealing the Administration’s
eavesdropping program along with fellow reporter James Risen.
He notes that Bush’s language “recalls a resolution, known as the
Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed by Congress on Sept.
14, 2001… [which] authorized the president to ‘use all necessary and
appropriate force’ against those responsible for the Sept. 11
attacks to prevent future strikes. That authorization, still in
effect, was initially viewed by many members of Congress who voted
for it as the go-ahead for the administration to invade Afghanistan
and overthrow the Taliban, which had given sanctuary to Mr. bin
Laden.”
“But the military authorization became the secret legal basis for
some of the administration’s most controversial legal tactics,
including the wiretapping program, and that still gnaws at some
members of Congress,” he adds.
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