FFF

The U.S. government has killed civilians for well over a century. During the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman waged war on civilians in Atlanta. During the Philippine Insurrection at the turn of 20th century, U.S. forces killed about 200,000 civilians, and even had a policy to shoot anyone more than 10 years old who … Continue reading “Targeting Civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki”

Americans are still learning the details of some of the abuses that were committed against those rounded up as suspected terrorists after 9/11. The Justice Department inspector general issued superb reports in June and December 2003 detailing violation of rights, denial of due process, and, in some cases, physical brutality. Perhaps the best way to … Continue reading “Trampling Aliens in the Name of Anti-Terrorism”

The Pentagon is learning that things work differently here in the United States than they do in Iraq. In this country, when the judiciary issues an order, the Pentagon is required to obey it. That’s why the government is now permitting Ali Saleh al-Marri to meet with his attorney as part of his habeas corpus … Continue reading “Pentagon Learns About the Sixth Amendment”

Ever since the attacks of 9/11, unsanctioned alternative explanations of what happened and why have been in ample supply. What are the American people to make of these explanations? That depends on the alternative offered. My purpose here is not to lend credence to any of them, but rather to examine the attitude that officialdom … Continue reading “Should We Have Faith in the Government?”

President Bush claims that his war on Iraq has made Americans safer. His primary rationale is that by removing from power a foreign dictator who was supposedly bent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction, Americans are safer as a result. Unfortunately for the American people, however, Bush’s reasoning is both false and fallacious. The evidence … Continue reading “Exactly How Has Bush’s War Made Us Safer?”

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that Yaser Hamdi and Shafiq Rasul (and other Guantanamo detainees) are entitled to seek habeas corpus relief in U.S. federal district courts to challenge their detention by U.S. military officials, the question naturally arises: What relief should the federal district courts provide in those habeas corpus proceedings as … Continue reading “Padilla, Hamdi, and Rasul: Charge Them or Release Them”

"A state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens." Those words from Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor are music to the ears of every friend of freedom. That line is a direct slap at President George W. Bush, who has signaled … Continue reading “War Is No Blank Check”

After 9/11, the word of the president was supposedly the only protection that the rights and liberties of the American people needed. After 9/11, President Bush granted himself unlimited, unchecked power over anyone in the world suspected of being a terrorist. The Supreme Court, in a series of rulings on June 28, 2004, trimmed that … Continue reading “Torture as Due Process”

A former speechwriter for President Richard Nixon thinks his old boss made a mistake when he ended the military draft in the early 1970s during the war in Vietnam. Noel Koch reports that Nixon himself came to believe he erred and “[urged] that the draft be restored.” Well, that’s too bad. My only reason for … Continue reading “The Draft Is Fascist”