Young may vote for HR 6054

I called up Representative Young's Washington office this morning, and spoke with a staffer there, trying to find out how Young plans to vote on the belowmentioned mess of a Military Commissions bill. The staffer wasn't sure, but thought that Young was leaning toward voting for it. If this bill passes, there goes 600 years of basic protections.

I registered my urgent request that he NOT vote for this, based on concern for its habeas-stripping provisions and the lack of a check by the judiciary on the executive. The staffer wanted to know if I was military. The problem is that this bill doesn't just cover the military, or military situations, or times of war.

Again, I quote Lederman:

if the Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to "hostilities" at all.

This definition is not limited to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It's not limited to aliens -- it covers U.S. citizens as well. It's not limited to persons captured or detained overseas. And it is not even limited to the armed conflict against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, authorized by Congress on September 18, 2001. Indeed, on the face of it, it's not even limited to a time of war or armed conflict; it could apply in peacetime.

Contact Don Young about this--we are potentially in deep trouble, folks.