Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Throwing habeas corpus out with the bathwater

Michael Ratner
(photo by Chester HiggensJr./NYT}
This morning (Tuesday) on Democracy Now Center for Constitutional Rights' Michael Ratner explained how the debate over the Bush's proposal to emasculate the Geneva Convention has missed a crucial point:
"In both the administration bill and in the McCain-Graham-Warner bill, in both cases you abolish the writ of habeas corpus. The government, the Congress, is abolishing the writ of habeas corpus. The habeas corpus writ is the right to challenge your detention once you’re picked up by the United States. It would apply to Guantanamo. It would apply to everybody in Bagram. And it basically says that anybody picked up, now or in the future or who is there now, no longer has the writ of habeas corpus."

"For some reason, for some peculiar reason, nobody is really covering this in the media."

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