NATIONAL JOURNAL: Guantanamo's Grip

I came across this link over at Shakes' place. It's not that there's anything really new in this piece, it just a well-written article that nicely points out most of the problems with the Bush administration's treatment of so-called 'enemy combatants'. It's very interesting and horrifying to read the story of detainee 032, Farouq Ali Ahmed. Neatly illustrated are the pitfalls involved in the way these people were identified and detained in the first place, the dubious methods used to gather evidence against them, and the injustice of military tribunals which answer to no one but the president.

What sticks out to me in all this is the importance of due process. Everyone is entitled, by virtue of being a human being, to due process. It doesn't matter where you're born, what your religion is, who you hate, who you love, what you've done or what you're planning to do. Due process means being subjected to and protected by the rule of law - codified, recognized law. Due process is not one hearing in front of a panel of biased judges, where your accusers have legal representation and you don't, where you can't examine the evidence against you, and there is no appeal. In any other context or country, this would be described as a kangaroo court, and Bush and all his supporters would rail against it, and call for freedom and democracy.

Now I do understand that many, if not most of the prisoners in Guantanamo are terrorists or have provable, meaningful ties to terroists. But it doesn't matter if every last one of them is 9/11-conspiring, baby-killing, al qaeda-loving mass murderer, each one of them is still entitled to due process. In reality, you know that not every one there is guilty, but there's no way for an innocent man to prove it.

Many of you will cry "Wait, these scumbags aren't state-sponsored, they're not covered by the rule of law, they're just terrorist thugs!" Fuck that shit. Maybe you've never heard of the Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This statement is fundamental to American values. That says all men, not just Americans, not just state-sponsored warriors. No, it doesn't come right out and say all men are entitled to due process, and I'm not implying that the Declaration is part of the law of the land. I'm just using the Declaration as an example of bedrock American values, values where all men are equal before the law, regardless of where they were born.

The way Bush and his buddies treat these people cheapens all of us. And it doesn't stop with foreign combatants, they're not above using these same reprehensible tactics on US citizens either, just look up Jose Padilla. A bad guy? Most likely. A criminal? Probably. Entitled to due process? Absolutely!

The bottom line is that we, as Americans, as human beings, should be above this kind of shit. Down this road lies tyranny. We should have the determination to prosecute suspected terrorists to the full extent of the law, and the resolve to stand by the principle of innocent until proven guilty. If we can't do that, or won't do that, then we ought to stop all the bitching about human rights and democracy, because until we do, we're just fucking hypocrites.