No wonder, then, that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and nine co-sponsors have introduced legislation they might have cribbed from the Third Reich. “S.3081: Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” supposedly “provide[s] for the interrogation and detention of enemy belligerents who commit hostile acts against the United States” — and, as the bill’s text repeatedly adds, its “coalition partners.” Note that a new and ungrammatical cluster of nouns, “enemy belligerents,” has not only replaced but enlarged the numbers of the old, equally ungrammatical “enemy combatants” — and yes, combining this with the Feds’ penchant for smearing even their mildest critics as terrorists means they have us firmly in their sights. Note further that the bill’s “persons” and “individuals” now specifically includes citizens of the US [Sec. 5], and that the US military, known to have tortured Iraqis, Afghanis, and others, may “detain” and “interrogate” these victims indefinitely.

Hard to say which is more monstrous: McCain’s stupidity or his evil. He’s so proud of this abomination that he’s posted his “Statement” introducing it to the Senate on his website: “This legislation seeks to ensure that the mistakes made during the apprehension of the Christmas Day bomber, such as reading him a Miranda warning, will never happen again and put Americans’ security at risk,” he says, apparently oblivious to the irony that empowering governments to destroy God-given, inalienable rights is precisely what puts Americans’ security at greatest risk.

No doubt unwittingly, McCain reveals the specious logic with which his legislation overturns the Constitution: “This bill would require unprivileged enemy belligerents suspected of engaging in hostilities against the U.S. to be held in military custody and interrogated for their intelligence value by a ‘high value detainee’ interagency team established by the President.” With a succinct 38 words, in which no less than 5 nouns are once again contorted into adjectives, McCain eviscerates the ancient right of habeas corpus, the presumption of innocence, and the right to an open trial. In place of the last, he substitutes judgment at the hands of appointed and very biased bureaucrats. If “experts” determine that you are “an unprivileged enemy belligerent” and if “the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General after consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency” agree, well, you are clearly and indeed a very bad guy. Of course, no one has ever accused bureaucrats of devotion to either the truth or accuracy. Nor are they known for thinking outside the box and challenging their fellows, especially when everyone else’s head is already nodding.

The mere notion of “unprivileged suspects” stinks as much as the Bushy cesspool from which it originated. This claptrap, which has “been frequently used at least since the beginning of the last century in legal literature, military manuals and case law,” creates pariahs who allegedly lie outside the Constitution’s protection. But that document’s whole purpose was to bind down rulers from mischief, as Jefferson put it. Ergo, its strictures hamstring them without reference to their victims; the identity, nationality, or standing of those people on whom the government preys is irrelevant. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” regardless of location: it may establish no religion either here or in Timbuktu. Nor may it abridge the freedom of the press, any press, whether America’s, Malaysia’s, or Zimbabwe’s. There are no “unprivileged” folks anywhere because the Federal government may not, period. It may not act except in a few instances and as the Constitution allows it, regardless of the recipients of those actions. The neoconservative nonsense that the Constitution in general and the Bill of Rights in particular apply only to U.S. citizens is as silly as it is pernicious.

McCain’s brainchild may be heinous, but it isn’t surprising. Anyone who reads history and understands government could have predicted it as the next step in our rulers’ war on the Constitution, a.k.a., the War on Terror. As usual, said Warriors began by demonizing their victims, in this case “terrorists”; once Americans feared and hated the demons, the Warriors chipped away at the “terrorists’” Constitutional rights. Serfs cheered and thanked Leviathan for saving them. Like children distracted by the lollypop the doctor offers, they never expected the needle aimed at terrorists to stab them.

But governments seldom care about tyrannizing the few foreigners who fall into their hands; rather, it’s their own citizens they lust to command. The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010” furthers that plot, stripping rights from Americans whom bureaucrats accuse of terrorism. When fools cheer this as well, when they docilely watch as the FBI indefinitely detains their neighbors for the CIA to torture, rulers will smile and nod. Their next bill won’t bother mentioning “terrorists,” even as a pretext. Citizens, especially but not only those who dissent, will be its sole target. And there will be far more things from which to dissent — forced relocation and labor, perhaps even medical experimentation to rival Dr. Mengele’s, if Obamacare passes.

“I will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to improve this process to obtain better, more uniform results,” McCain threatens. “…[M]y efforts will not stop until we have addressed all the detainee issues in a comprehensive fashion.”

For once, I believe him.

Becky Akers, an expert on the American Revolution, writes frequently about issues related to security and privacy. Her articles and columns have been published by Lewrockwell.com, The Freeman, Military History Magazine, American History Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, the New York Post, and other publications.

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Thomas Paine said:

Now we know why the New World Order picked McCain as candidate Well now we know we would have been no better off if McCain was President. Once again the NWO shows that they truly control both Presidential candidates. Fascism (McCain), or Communism (Obama). Either way, they move us toward their good buddy Communist China.

March 17, 2010

Mikey Pinkie Rings said:

Oh bother... just when it looked like Republicans might return to constitutional government... This important article is evidence of why it is necessary for grassroots Republicans to spank incumbent Republicans. It is far better to have a wary Democrat in office for a term than a belligerent Republican like John McCain! Hold all of their feet to the fire (the Constitution.)

March 17, 2010

Flu-Bird said:

Our imperial CONgress It looks like our imperial CONgress will do as they please ignore the will of the people and end up getting booted out in november as we see demacratic heads roll

March 17, 2010

JoJo said:

Both parties are the same--they just take turns-live with it--No democracy but Yes to Demockracy No politician of any party listens to any of it's citizens,even prior to electionering. Token terms conservative or Liberials means nothing. No easy fix. When Americans learn that they are run by a cult(AIPAC),maybe then chances will come. One easy Fix suggestion--No party membership--all candidates run as indivduals

March 20, 2010

El Tonno said:

Fascism and Destruction of Language Letting aside the fact that the Christmas Day Bomber, far from being a "staggering failure" as McCain asserts, was most likely under permanent observation (complete with filming) from the check-in onwards ... The mutation of language alluded to reminded me of a footnote from Günter Reimann's "The Vampire Economy - Doing Business under Fascism", written 1939. He tries to translate some officialese about party control of politically important positions and adds the following: "The general meaning of this paragraph will be clear to the reader despite the obscurity of the manner in which the thought is phrased. The original German is written in the Nazi idioms that have become characteristic of German official documents; in their eagerness to demonstrate that there has been a complete break with the past, the present rulers of Germany have almost invented a new tongue. Similar difficulty has been encountered in rendering into English other Nazi documents."

March 27, 2010

bogi666 said:

... Starting with the "drug war" the purpose of which being to revoke the bill of rights, the pretense of constitutuional protections for people is gone now. The "war on terror" enabled the Federal government to be arrogant and with hubris be abusive about its disdain for the taxpayer whom pay their salaries. The Patriot Act's purpose is to legitimize government's ability to eliminate whomever they want for any reason it conjure's or make's up. It is no secret that the Patriot Act, with its obvious NAZISM, would eventually extend to include American citizens as legitimate targets for legalized torture, indefinite detainment base on whims, The Thought Police. The Chicago 7 trial was the prosecution based on thoughts presented as facts, mindlessness the inability of an ignorant, illiterate citizenry engineered into mindlessness by the government. As far as Obama being a communist, obviously this writer wouldn't know a communist from a turnip and using that mindlessness carnard is an appeal to mindlessness.

March 27, 2010

xjlm said:

... Perhaps you teabaggers wail passionately at the idea of healthcare reform, but no one I know does. I get angry over the idea of my tax dollars going to Israel's war machine far more than I do over my government treating me like some kind of second-class citizen as far as healthcare goes. At least I'm young and healthy enough now that it doesn't matter. I just laugh at tools like you who seem to think you have something to add to the national discourse, but it always seems to echo the right wing noise machine.

March 27, 2010

Egbert said:

Tyranny indeed To paraphrase Bush "Things would be so much easier if a dictator was in chage - provided I was the dictator" What was the Republican etc position at the time - nothing.

March 28, 2010

Skip said:

McCain believes in the "US-Israel" Empire McCain is a hard core shill for Israel and this legislation comes from the Israeli modus operandi. McCain believes in the concept of the "US-Israel Empire" and wants to ensure that the USA never again returns as a stand alone sovereign nation. How better to accomplish this than adopt the illegal human rights practices of Israel. These are very sad times to be an American.

March 28, 2010

NavyVietnamWarVet said:

... McCain is a nut case - he was a womanizer; a lousy Navy pilot; next to last in his class at Annapolis (the ONLY reason he got into the Naval Academy is because his father was an admiral - admission was automatic); many blamed him for causing the fire aboard the USS Forestall in 1967. His father helped Johnson cover up the deliberate Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967. McCain is a Zionist TRAITOR to the U.S. - "bomb Iran, bomb Iran" all for the benefit of Israel. His first VP selection was Zionist TRAITOR to the U.S. - Joe Lieberman. Endless empire requires dictatorship and the destruction of all freedoms in America - and we are there NOW!

March 28, 2010