Riddle me this

A good friend likes to give me riddles to which he doesn't know the answer.  Recognizing my compulsive personality disorder, he knows that I will become consumed with figuring out the answer, thus providing both of us with eventual satisfaction.  I, on the other hand, try to only pose riddles to which I know the answer; I may be shallow, but I'm not sadistic.

Today's riddle is simple: How do you recognize an enemy combatant?

Answer: Just ask President Bush; he's the decider.

On Wednesday, September 27, 2006, by a vote of 253 to 168, the House approved the terror/detainee bill, which among other things bestows upon President Bush the power to decide who is an enemy combatant.  Initially, I was concerned from a distance--a purely intellectual exercise as to what may result from the renewed evisceration of the United States Constitution.  After all, I'm a law abiding citizen and not likely to be declared an enemy combatant.

Ignorance is bliss, and I was quite blissful until I opened my email today.  Another friend (not the tortuous riddler) sent me several links to additional information about the terror/detainee bill now being considered by the Senate.  Upon reading more about the provisions of the bill, my state of bliss was totally disrupted.

I began sorting through my memory, trying to recall if I had ever "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States." If so, President Bush could declare me an enemy combatant and lock me up indefinitely. 

I decided that I was being melodramatic and gave myself a stern talking to, reasoning that as I had not done anything I was in no danger of disappearing into some dark, dank cell for the next 30 years.  I was regaining my bliss until I read about Jose Padilla.  Mr. Padilla is a US citizen who spent three years in a military prison without being charged with a crime; he was designated an enemy combatant in 2002 and locked away.  I don't know Mr. Padilla personally and I have no insight as to his guilt or innocence but it seems that he should have been charged with a specific crime before he was locked up.  Deputy DA McCoy (Law & Order) always charges the criminal of the week with a crime before he or she is incarcerated.  Of course, that's just television, not real life.

In real life, the terror/detainee bill not only allows an alleged enemy combatant to be detained indefinitely but denies the detainee the right to file a petition of habeas corpus.  The law still relies on a slew of terms in Latin; habeas corpus loosely translates as you (should) have the body.  The concept dates back to English Common Law and basically gives an imprisoned individual a right to petition to come before a court and have the court decide if there is a basis in law for the individual to lose his freedom.  If there is not, he must be set free.  At least, that's the way it used to be.

By now, my bliss was totally gone.  Warning, I'm about to write things that may be construed as subversive; please write me when I'm gone.  I hope that they allow enemy combatants to receive mail. 

At the heart of our legal system is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty.  There are checks and balances in our legal system, not the least of which is the right to hear the evidence against you and to have an opportunity to refute that evidence. 

The proposed premise appears to be that enemy combatants have waived their rights under our system of law by their actions.  The problem with this premise is that it is fundamentally flawed.  Under the terror/detainee bill, suspicion of misdeeds is sufficient to declare someone an enemy combatant.  The suspect is then locked away and given no opportunity to challenge the legality of his/her imprisonment.  The mere allegation of wrong doing, without specific charges or proof of guilt is sufficient to deprive an individual of his/her liberty under this proposed system of kangaroo justice. 

This isn't a mere violation of law; it is the rape of the Bill of Rights, of the very principles upon which this country was founded; the President and Congress should be ashamed.  We should all be ashamed that we are so willing to sell out the principles of a democratic society because we are afraid.  This country has already worn a crown of shame far too many times--slavery, Jim Crow laws, lynching, the Trail of Tears, and the internment of Japanese Americans in WWII--to name a few. There are some things that are worse than terrorism; it is not the enemy from without that will destroy us.