Referring to the denial of habeas corpus for anyone designated an "enemy combatant": Fascism.

I agree with the implication. Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld are blatantly about the concentration of power.

I've been reading up on Italian history recently.

There are lots of parallels between Mussolini and Junior Bush.

Abuse of the Italian constitution of 1848 was the basis of his power. It was amended out of recognition.
Amendments... hmmm. We're fortunate that ours is more resistant to such manipulation. The intent of this gang is clear however.

Another striking parallel is the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935-6. It exposed the weakness of Italian forces, much of it due to bad political appointments, and while sold to the country as a "short and glorious war" led to a quagmire that lasted years and drained Italy's forces and treasury. Italian generals, veterans of WW1, advised against the "adventure" beforehand. Mussolini steamrolled them. The main accomplishment in Ethiopia was to turn most of the world against Italy.
We see how our own armed insurance policy is being frittered away in a useless, unwinnable "war". We've blown our international credibility. We've created many more enemies than we've eliminated.

Mussolini imposed the "corporate state". Corruption and abuse were rife. National budget deficits were unsustainable, leading to repeated devaluation of the Lira.
Gold isn't up - the dollar is down. We'll be a century or more paying off the national debt now. As to corruption and abuse, the name "Haliburton" pretty much sums it up. The "corporate state" isn't formally in place, mainly thanks again to the difficulty of amending the U.S. constitution on a political whim. Corporate interests are however blatantly of the highest priority with this administration.

Benito Mussolini's own party eventually kicked him out.
Solid, conscientious Republicans are beginning to rebel.

My feeling is that Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld will try in the coming two years to create the conditions for a national "state of emergency". If they have their way, there may be no Federal elections in 2008.

We have to be on our guard as Americans to stop it before it is too late.

- AC
Cincinnati

Foreign terrorists and even Americans that would commit mass muder for a political or religious agenda do not earn Habeus Corpus protection in my book. By the way; it means "Produce the corpse" as opposed to what he indicated "I have the corpse".

Your problem is you don't know if the person is a terrorist or not. We've already learned something like two-thirds of those in Abu Ghriab were innocents just rounded up. Also, we've released prisoners from Gitmo that were innocent.

Does that not bother you at all?

GoU

Nope; not in the least. It is called a war.

Spoken like a true poster boy for Al Qaeda. They just love it when Americans say things like that. Then they can turn around and say "look at these Americans, they will kill and torture you even if you are innocent"

Keep up your recruiting efforts - Al Qaeda thanks you.

What world do you live in? War? We have occupied Iraq illegally and for no documented reason.

So, say they came and arrested your innocent son, and you never saw him again, or knew what happened to him, you would be cool with that, because it's called a war?

GoU

It's not a War (there has been no Congressional Declaration of War), it's an AUMF!
Dubya is an "AUMF President".



Mac

Iowa:

So, OK, you passed Latin 201 with your correct translation of Habeas Corpus (although "corpse" is a bit more specific than the actual English of the word).

However, you seem to have missed a significant concept in American Constitutional History. No one (citizen or otherwise) is required to "earn" rights either granted or recognized in the Constitution. They are there, they are ours, and we can not lose them unless they are removed following the exercise of due process.

That is just the sort of simplistic thinking that's got this country in the trouble it's in now.

They'll be taking more constitutional guarantees away soon enough, don't worry.

Maybe the next one will be something you value.

It's only a matter of time before that war you seem to like gets back over here. Every innocent person who is torturned becomes an enemy. So does their family. Ever hear of word of mouth? What goes around comes around.

How can you call yourself and American if you advocate holding innocent people without trial, without access to an attorney, without knowledge of what they are being charged with, and without even the ability to let your family know that you are alive? That goes against everytihng that our country stands for and has fought for over the last two centuries plus. You are a disgrace to your country.

The prez declared the war over...

I don't see the Iraqi people wanting our troops there anymore. They are fed up and taking action to have us removed from their land. When we take the land owners as prisoners, we are calling them terrorists,
when all they are trying to do is evict us.

Actually I would call our actions trespassing. Illegal occupation.
Wouldn't you take action to have a trespasser taken off your property?
Especially if they were damaging your crop in the south 40?
Bernie...

i could not disagree with you more! your statement assumes the conclusion....that is...that someone is a "foreign terrorist" or "an American that would commit mass murder"....your view allows a dictator to UNILATERALLY DECLARE someone the names you are calling them and then lock them up with no OVERSIGHT! THIS IS VERY, VERY DANGEROUS!!!! just wait until it's a democrat doing this and locking up your political leaders, and it'll be too late for you to cry the blues.

and, your definition of habeus corpus is wrong and you misquote my stated definition...i said habeus corpus means "you have the body" ......here is the dictionary.com statement on it:

a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge or court, esp. for investigation of a restraint of the person's liberty, used as a protection against illegal imprisonment.
[Origin: < L: lit., have the body (first words of writ), equiv. to habeās 2nd sing. pres. subj. (with impv. force) of habēre to have + corpus body] [i]

people need to preserve, protect and defend the constitution...THAT is what being a good american is all about...not posturing as a fascist, as the "leadership" of the republican party does with their big government "we'll keep you safe" crapola.