American law and tradition make clear: The accused are entitled to speedy trials before a jury. The accused may not be tortured until they confess. Evidence obtained through torture is not admissible. The accused has the right to cross-examination of the witnesses against him.

Older readers will recall the days before Miranda, when prisoners in American jails were likely to be abused until they confessed, especially if they were dark of skin or spoke with an accent. Fortunately, the Supreme Court brought those days to an end.

The Military Commissions Act turns all American law and tradition on its head. The Military Commissions Act is un-American to its core. It should be repealed immediately.

Americans should recognize: The Republicans and Democrats who gave us this law have turned their backs on America. They have turned their backs on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Protect yourself, your children, and your country. Turn them out of office in favor of people love America and will save our Constitution. Turn them out in favor of Libertarians, members of the one Party that stands 100% behind the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Congress should create a Corps of Special Prosecutors. The Corps will bring to justice all government officials who said they were fighting a war on terror, while committing real crimes against our freedoms. The Corps of Special Prosecutors will give those government officials the right they denied their prisoners: The right to a speedy trial before an impartial jury.

What are un-American components of the Military Commissions Act?
*The Military Commissions Act denies the right of trial.
*The Military Commissions Act abolishes the right of a defendant to question the witnesses against him.
*The Military Commissions Act legalizes torture:
*The Military Commissions Act permits people to be locked up indefinitely.
*Victims of the Military Commissions Act are tried by Star Chamber tribunals, not by the juries that have been the basis of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence for most of the last millennium.
*Victims of the Military Commissions Act may be convicted on the basis of evidence beaten out of witnesses.
*Victims of the Military Commissions Act may be denied a chance to cross-examine their accusers.
*The Military Commissions Act legalizes torture. It does this by redefining the Geneva Conventions. Under the Act, the serious physical pain or suffering’ banned by Geneva Conventions refers only to “extreme physical pain”. Interrogators can inflict pain so long as it is not “extreme”. And what is “extreme”, as opposed to, say, “serious”? The Act specifically identifies loss or impairment of a mental faculty as a test. Extreme pain is then pain adequate to cost the victim his sanity. Under the law, so long as the victim is sane afterwards, the pain was legal.
*The Military Commissions Act legalizes the hideous rubber hose treatment of prisoners. Interrogators only break the Geneva Conventions if they inflict “burns or physical disfigurement of a serious nature”. However, “cuts, abrasions, or bruises” are authorized. Beating a victim until he is black and blue almost everywhere, except where “a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty” is “impaired or lost”, is allowed. The people with the rubber hoses, careful not to break a bone or put out an eye or tooth, are let loose on their victims.
*The Act is retroactive. Acts of torture performed before the Act was passed are redefined as not being torture.

For torture and indefinite detention without trial, just keep electing the Republicans and Democrats who voted for the Military Commissions Act.

For equal American justice under the Law, the Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, vote Libertarian.

George Phillies
www.phillies2008.com

To watch the video of my speech to the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire,
www.phillies2008.com/phillies_speaks_at_lpnh_state_convention

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George Phillies is a candidate for the Libertarian Party’s 2008 presidential nomination. His campaign web site is located at www.phillies2008.com. As a matter of course, Rational Review will publish, unedited, the submissions of libertarian presidential candidates. For more information, or for assistance, contact us at info@rationalreview.com