The New Untermenschen

Army of None, Gavin Hadallar

In giving rights to others which belong to them,
we give rights to ourselves.

--John F. Kennedy

An injustice committed against anyone is a threat to everyone.
-- Montesquieu

The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor
is the mind of the oppressed.
--Stephen Biko

Terrorism doesn't just blow up buildings; it blasts every
other issue off the political map. The spectre of terrorism--
real and exaggerated--has become a shield of impunity,
protecting governments around the world from scrutiny
for their human rights abuse
--Naomi Klein
_________

Terrorism is a phenomenon that is distinct from warmaking. Because it is by nature adversarial and attack-driven, it has been recently conflated with war. But terrorism per se is a discrete activity, and criminal in nature. Therefore it is to be dealt with in the Federal Court system.

It is essential to bring the federal response to terrorism back into the picture, to reinstate some measure of reality and sanity to this government.

GWB and minions want to create a class of prisoner that falls outside the rule of law and the protections of the U.S. Constitution. This extra-legal categorization would "permit the long-term detention of foreigners on American soil without charges or appeal, just on Mr. Bush’s say-so."

"Defense Secretary Robert Gates said 'the biggest challenge is finding a statutory basis for holding prisoners who should never be released and who may or may not be able to be put on trial' (Terrorism and the Law: In Washington, a Need to Right Wrongs.)"

Yes--doing dirty deeds and making them look kosher is quite a challenge. It requires the exquisite legal prestidigitation of a Gonzales. It demands Rovian resources.

The policy is analogous to the Nazi untermenschen categorization of groups of their citizens they deemed worthy of ostracism and ultimately, extermination. The untermensch was banished to a liminal area beyond civilized behavior and legality. The new untermenschen are called detainees.

Since Ranger has a healthy dose of paranoia in his weltanschauung, there is always the possibility that old Ranger bloggers would be the next gruppen to go. If anybody is marginalized, then anybody can be. It's a slippery slope.

The founding fathers divided the powers to conduct and declare war between two co-equal branches, giving Congress the power in a time of war to “make rules concerning captures on land and water"(Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 11.)

Congress took this right and responsibility to heart when the Geneva Conventions (GC) were ratified, thereby becoming the law of the land. Unfortunately, this Constitution template has been co-opted by the slimy mental midgets within the U.S. government.

The GC covers the militarily captured personnel that become POWs. But terrorists are not captured.

Off the field of battle, suspected terrorists by legal definition must be arrested by police exercising jurisdiction over the suspected individual.

The Constitution discusses capture since arrest powers were otherwise held to be the the purview of the individual states. War was a federal function and law enforcement was seen as a local concern.

The founders did not envision an expansion of federal law enforcement beyond the powers enumerated in the Constitution. Police powers resided with the states, while the Federal authority retained warmaking and diplomatic functions. Obviously this is no longer the case.

One thing remains clear though: whether speaking of war or terrorism, there is nothing stated within the U.S. Constitution that encourages or authorizes torture, kidnapping, renditions or secret prisons. If these are war powers of a president, then this country has become a rogue nation.

None of these legal violations are warfighting measures, and are subversive of U.S. values.

This is the result of taking the U.S. military to war against a criminal faction.