Criticism of the Bush administration’s passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was the center of discussion,Wednesday in the Teleconference Center
The discussion, titled “”Are you an enemy combatant?” was co-sponsored by the Philosophy Department and the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance club.
Dr. Jim Lafferty, director of the National Lawyer Guild and Dr. Julian DelGaudio of the American Civil Liberties Union both agreed that having this act in the U.S. is intolerable and unfair.
The Military Commissions Act partially states:
? the US Supreme Court held that the military commission prosecuting Salim Ahmed Hamdan, an alleged Al-Qaeda affiliate captured during the US invasion of Afghanistan, lacked power to proceed.
[2] The Court based its decision in part on its finding that the establishment of the commission and rules governing commission proceedings violated relevant provisions of US law. In so doing, the Court found the international law of armed conflict – including the standards of Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions – to be judicially cognizable in US courts, at least insofar as the Court construed it to be incorporated by reference in an Act of Congress
In addition, questions of the U.S.’s handling of prisoners of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba were raised as DelGaudio stated, “It is like a civilian who has supposed ties to a terrorist group and was charged with something and asking, ‘Why am I here?'”
She added despite the change of power in the U.S. Congress, there are new laws that have been implemented that have stated that lawsuits are dismissed if any one who has been accused of a terrorist plot can not get compensation for.
Lafferty agreed but also said that anti-tormenting laws are being ignored because the U.S. is believed not be torturing anyone is holds suspect.
DelGaudio commented, “Currently there are 80 percent of those who are being held in Guantanamo Bay and those are farmers and merchants,” adding, “but these laws (like the Patriot Act, and the Phone Wire Tapping laws) apply to those people who are non-citizens and legal permanent residents of the U.S.”
She concluded that this is the system of the law and it should not be tolerated. As for Lafferty he says that the only reason President Bush has Military Commission Act and the Patriot Act in place is “because he wants to protect himself and those within the Bush administration and try to focus on a Iraq war that was based on lies.”
Afterward, Rio Medina, English major said, itI was important for issues like these to be addressed.”
She added that more students now should have a better understanding of why the Iraq war happened.
Ted Stolze, philosophy instructor, said that it was important to inform students about something like the Military Commissions Act because it affects all students the campus.
“Having a representative from the ACLU and NLG shed light on the post-9/11 status of the world,” he commented, “and hopefully students will be able to speak out about what’s important to them.”
