THE IMPERIOUS PRESIDENT

12/19/01

It's in question whether George W. Bush is even the duly elected president of our country, yet he's now taken to strutting around Washington as King George, regally rewriting our Constitution as though its protections are mere technicalities that can be set aside whenever his Highness finds them inconvenient.

His executive order of November 13th is his latest assault on our constitutional liberties. With a flick of his royal wrist, the imperious George asserts in this order that the guarantees of due process and public trial by an impartial jury shall not apply to those accused of terrorism. Instead, he relegates these people to the dictates of a new system of military tribunals that he's setting up––tribunals that can operate in secret, allow hearsay as "evidence," don't require proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, don't let the accused choose their own lawyers, can convict without a unanimous verdict, and don't allow appeals. They are, in a word, unAmerican.

The Bushites say, well, Osama bin Laden doesn't deserve constitutional protections. But Bush's star chambers are not reserved for bin Laden and his murderous thugs alone, but for all non-citizens––20 million of them living in U.S. Nor are the tribunals limited to those accused of participating in terrorism, for Bush's order would round up those who might have had the most casual contact not only with an actual terrorist, but also with anyone the authorities suspect of having––get this––"adverse effects" on the U.S. economy or foreign policy.

Take no comfort in the claim that this is OK because it's "only foreigners" who are being deprived of these rights. A president who can get away with taking away their rights can easily flick his wrist against and include you, me, or anyone else he thinks is having "adverse effects" on his policies.

This is Jim Hightower saying...This is why we have a Constitution and legal rules for due process––so America will be, as John Adams put it, "a government of laws, and not of men."

"Wake Up, America" Austin American Statesman
"Spain will not hand over suspects for secret trials" New York Times
"Questioning the President's Authority" New York Times 11/28/2001
"A Travesty of Justice" New York Times 11/16/2001
"Military lawyers: Tribunal unlike courts-martial" Austin American Statesman 12/2/2001