verbena-19

Guilty until proven innocent; French fries protester regrets war jibe

Guilty until proven innocent 05/26/05 02:17 PM Perhaps one the most dangerous, and most damaging, features of the war on terror is the hollowing out of one of the core tenets of our judicial system--the presumption of innocence. Witness the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, Bagram, and elsewhere who have been denied legal rights on the grounds that, well, they're not entitled to any. This argument is of course premised on a presumption of guilt. (Consider how ingrained is this habit of thought among our military and civilian leadership: when asked for comment on the allegations of Koran-flushing, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said, “It's a judgment call, and I trust the judgment of the commanders more than I trust the judgment of Al Qaeda," by which he meant the detainees at Guantanamo.) As well as being legally and morally objectionable, this presumption, as evidenced by periodic detainee releases, is quite often incorrect. Nevertheless, this same presumption lies behind the administration's approach to domestic security. Here matters are further complicated by the government's self-contradictory insistence, one, that a suspect shoulder the burden of proving his innocence (the logical flipside to the presumption of guilt), and, two, that crucial evidence against a suspect remain secret -- even from the suspect. Take the Senate Intelligence Committee's discussions on the expansion and use of Patriot Act powers. The Committee is scheduled to have a closed meeting today to discuss classified information on how the Patriot Act, passed in 2001, has been used. The concerns that many Americans have regarding the abuse of power may or may not be discussed. We won't know either way. The reasoning behind any abuses of power­unlawful searches and seizures, amassing lists of Americans based on their political affiliation, medical information, etc.­is classified. Any discussion about this classification is also classified. You might be on a list, but the government doesn't have to tell you that, much less why. Essentially, it becomes impossible to prove your innocence, because you don't know what you're innocent of. Take the Homeland Security's "no-fly" lists. A recent Washington Post article notes, "Homeland Security officials will not discuss the criteria that put an individual on the no-fly list, or how one is removed, except to say that the list contains names and other information about people with ties to terrorism. We know, thanks to the ACLU, that quite a few individuals and organizations without any apparent "ties to terrorism," (like the ACLU itself, and certain human rights and advocacy groups) are being watched--and in some cases, intimidated--by local government officials; so clearly the term "terrorism" is being broadly interpreted. How broadly? There's no way of knowing. - Onnesha RoychoudhuriRead the MoJo Blog online for more:http://www.motherjones.com/news/mojoblog/index.html@2005 The Foundation for National Progress -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------French fries protester regrets war jibe Jamie Wilson in WashingtonWednesday May 25, 2005GuardianIt was a culinary rebuke that echoed around the world, heightening the sense of tension between Washington and Paris in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. But now the US politician who led the campaign to change the name of french fries to "freedom fries" has turned against the war. Walter Jones, the Republican congressman for North Carolina who was also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom toast in Capitol Hill restaurants, told a local newspaper the US went to war "with no justification". Mr Jones, who in March 2003 circulated a letter demanding that the three cafeterias in the House of Representatives' office buildings ban the word french from menus, said it was meant as a "light-hearted gesture". But the name change, still in force, made headlines around the world, both for what it said about US-French relations and its pettiness. Now Mr Jones appears to agree. Asked by a reporter for the North Carolina News and Observer about the name-change campaign - an idea Mr Jones said at the time came to him by a combination of God's hand and a constituent's request - he replied: "I wish it had never happened." Although he voted for the war, he has since become one of its most vociferous opponents on Capitol Hill, where the hallway outside his office is lined with photographs of the "faces of the fallen". "If we were given misinformation intentionally by people in this administration, to commit the authority to send boys, and in some instances girls, to go into Iraq, that is wrong," he told the newspaper. "Congress must be told the truth."
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The above articles were the kind contribution of Bob Wolfe excerpted from his June 1, 2005 Newsletter, available by written request from timesachangin@parolink.net

posted by Annamarie at 5:48 PM