Action: October 2007 Archives

Before today I had never written to a Senator who wasn't my own. But I liked the quotes from Senators Durbin and Leahy in this NY Times article. The Attorney General nominee, Judge Michael B. Mukasey, has performed verbal gymnastics around the legality of the waterboarding torture technique.

“I remain very concerned that Judge Mukasey finds himself unable to state unequivocally that waterboarding is illegal and below the standards and values of the United States,” Mr. Leahy, of Vermont, said in a statement.

Another Democrat, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, said Mr. Mukasey had “spent four pages responding and still didn’t provide an answer” to the question, “Is waterboarding illegal?”

“Judge Mukasey makes the point that in the law, precision matters,” Mr. Durbin said. “So do honesty and openness. And on those counts, he falls far short.”

I let the Senators know that I appreciate their tenacity, and that it would be comforting to have an Attorney General whose job was to uphold the law rather than massage it to ensure that administration officials avoid future war crimes convictions. Knowing we care can only strenghten their spines, right?

~~ Senate Judiciary Committee

This week I wrote this letter to the editor of my local paper, The Missoulian. True, Ron Paul is generally wacky, but I still admire his American Freedom Agenda Act and wanted to draw attention to it. Since I live in a conservative area of the country (though a liberal part of Montana), it seemed important to elaborate on potential  ramifications of the Military Commissions Act for those who might not otherwise be alarmed.

Support bill revoking ‘combatant' status

If the president names you an “enemy combatant,” you become one just because he or she says so. This means that, at this moment, you or any other U.S. citizen could legally be locked up without charge or the right to an attorney. Shocking, isn't it? And fundamentally un-American; the kind of thing that would make the founders turn over in their graves.

A provision in the Military Commissions Act gave the president this unprecedented power a little over a year ago. Though we might like to think “enemy combatant” status would only be conferred upon U.S. citizens with verifiable terrorist ties, are we willing to allow our basic rights to be tossed out the window on that gamble?