| rant of the week
Return to the Southern Cone
The DC Court of Appeals has ruled 2-1 that the the government may withhold
. . . the names and other details about hundreds of foreigners detained in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The powerful decision was deferential to the Bush administration's arguments over continued threats to America from terrorists.
I can't find the full opinion at any of the top law blogs (come on, guys!), but here's what David B. Sentelle is quoted as writing in his majority opinion:
"America faces an enemy just as real as its former Cold War foes, with capabilities beyond the capacity of the judiciary to explore," wrote U.S. Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle. He said judges are "in an extremely poor position to second-guess the executive's judgment in this area of national security."
For those of you reading these words I have one request:
COULD I GET A LITTLE ALARMISM HERE, PLEASE?????
What has the appeals court authorized?
Secret detentions.
Please say those words aloud. "Secret detentions." Now use them in a sentence:
The US government engages in the practice of secret detentions.
[more]
thanks to Eschaton |
