Taking the Skeptical View Point. Does the United States Permit Torture of Detainees?

On October 27th I published an article about the military tribunal law which was passed and signed into law. My skeptical view point was that the passing of this law changes the world's perception of the United States as a country which no longer respects human rights. There was one very large Gather group which rejected this article. That is no big deal. However it was a political article about a legitimate political issue. If some of the people who rejected the article were to take a closer look at the bill as it was passed they just might discover that the bill gives the executive branch more power than was intended by the constitution.The military tribunal law was hastily passed and very few constitutional scholars had the time to review the details. The reason for the haste in passing the bill was the upcoming mid-term election. The Republicans wanted the bill as a done deal before the election. It also showed that even people who used to have credibility with middle of the road voters such as John McCain caved in to the administration. This means that there is no one left in the Republican party who can claim to have any integrity left on the issue of torture. The bill allows the executive branch to decide who is or is not a terrorist. It then allows the executive branch to suspend the Habeas Corpus rights of that individual. It also allows the executive branch to decide how far to go in the treatment of these detainees. If you have been following the rhetoric of Dick Cheney putting people under water (also known as waterboarding) is a no brainer. So this means a law has been potentially passed by this congress just prior to this mid-term that allows for torture.

So now if I am wrong and this Military Tribunal law is completely on the up and up then I should apologise. If it turns out the law was a hasty political move to satisfy the Republican base voters then it is indeed a legitimate political issue. It would then be considered a legitimate polital topic for the Election 2006 debate.If it turns out to be overturned as un-constitutional then that would show it was a hasty politically motivated ploy designed to satisfy the administration's political goals.

I am willing to be called mistaken on this issue but we as Americans need to be vigilant when it comes to our civil rights.