[Marxism] Appeals Court rapes justice [was: Re: YES! Man Labeled "Enemy Combatant" Wins Court Case]

["Joaquin Bustelo" <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Maybe its just me, but I do not share Walter or Les's enthusiasm for the
court of appeals ruling in the South Carolina enemy combatant case.

It seems to me that the Court of Appeals decision saying the U.S. government
can continue its 6-year kidnapping of Ali al-Marri, just as long as the
Bushites find another pretext that does not undermine the livelihoods of the
honorable robed reactionaries of the ruling rich in the courtroom, is a
FUCKING OUTRAGE.

Here is a man they kidnapped right after September 11 with a COMPLETELY FAKE
material witness warrant, because he wasn't a witness, he was the target,
they just didn't have a scrap of --needless to say, fabricated-- evidence
against him. 

Then months later they indicted him on mickey mouse credit card charges and
dissembling on a bank application, and brought the charges not where the
alleged crimes took place, but half the country away, just to make sure he
couldn't defend himself.

When the judge pointed out that the rules of criminal procedure prohibit
such venue shopping, the government shipped him back AGAIN and reindicted
him on the same bullshit charges in the original jurisdiction. If I had been
the judge assigned to the refried charges, I would have dismissed them with
prejudice on the grounds of prosecutorial fraud and misconduct, in having a
suspect arrested as a material witness, taking him away from his court of
competent jurisdiction, and venue shopping. 

But before the prisoner could even have a hearing on pretrial motions --and
specifically one that asked for evidence obtained by torture to be
suppressed-- Torturer In Chief George W. Bush lawlessly ordered the charges
to be dropped in order to remove him once again from his court of competent
jurisdiction. He ordered him held prisoner, incommunicado, without charges,
indefinitely in the navy brig in South Carolina. That was in June 2003, four
years ago.

At that point the Majesty of The Law should have stepped in between this
vengeful monarch and his victim, refusing to surrender jurisdiction,
demanding the production of the prisoner. But no. When his lawyers tried to
get the federal courts in Illinois to issue a writ of habeas corpus, the
honorable judge and the honorable appeals judges turned them down, and the
honorable justices of the U.S. Supreme Court refused to even hear the case.

Thus the government was allowed to hold and torture Ali al-Marri for FOUR
MORE YEARS. Now, with the Bush administration in political collapse, and W.
himself as the odds-on favorite to win the vote as worst president ever, NOW
the honorable court of appeals, parsing the commas and subordinate clauses
in the "let's wipe our asses with the constitution" bill that Democrats and
Republicans gave Bush last year, say al Marri does have recourse to habeas
corpus. 

But instead of having the government PRODUCE THE BODY as the Great Writ
demands, the honorable judges instead instruct the lower court to invite the
government to keep him imprisoned on some other pretext than the "enemy
combatant" one being used and --oh happy coincidence!-- specifically a
pretext that requires constant hearings and motions before honorable judges
such as themselves, thereby keeping the class of honorable judges in bacon.

If the honorable judges had an OUNCE of integrity, they would have demanded
the immediate production of the prisoner so he could be set free. And if the
government delayed unreasonably, say, more than two or three minutes, they
should have proceeded to declare the government attorneys and the navy brig
commander in contempt and ordered them sent to jail, incommunicado, in
chains, until such time as the prisoner was produced and could be set free. 

Some day, I hope, there are going to be trials for crimes against humanity
against the intellectual and material authors of the wave of imperialist
barbarism known as "the war on terror." And if there is any justice in this
world, the honorable judges of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will be
in the dock, along with Bush and the rest of the war criminals.

Joaquín


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