No official reversal, illegal practices can continue
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
By releasing internal Justice Department memos showing how the Bush fronted Neocons systematically destroyed civil liberties in America after 9/11, the Obama administration has sought to distance itself from such practices. However, closer inspection of the actions of the new regime, reveal no deviation from such policies in the war on terror.
Nine memos/opinions, said by the Bush administration to give legal grounding to detention and torture of terror suspects, were released yesterday.
They reveal how the rights of all American citizens have been effectively stripped away under the auspices of the so called “war on terror”.
A 2002 opinion written by then-assistant attorney general John Yoo, stated that the rights of any suspect could be rescinded.
“The power to dispose of the liberty of individuals captured … remain in the hands of the president alone,” Yoo wrote.
Another 2003 opinion written for Alberto Gonzales, then counsel for Bush, stated:
“Congress can no longer regulate the president’s ability to detain and interrogate enemy combatants than it may regulate his ability to direct troop movements.”
Another memo intended for John Bellinger, who was then legal advisor to the National Security Council, suggested that the president’s “power to suspend treaties is wholly discretionary,” indicating that international laws could be ignored if necessary.
Perhaps the most despicable of the memos dated from October 23rd 2001, Just weeks after 9/11. As reported by AP, it effectively stated that constitutional free-speech protections and a prohibition on unreasonable search and seizure could take a back seat to military needs in fighting terrorism inside the country.
