Five Generalissimos
[posted by Kay Ryan]
Another example of shallow partisan reporting by the BushBadNews Media networks, was the profoundly faulty pronouncements of the meaning of the Supreme Court decision, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.
At first we heard loud and clear that SCOTUS reined in the Bush Administration's grab for executive power; AND, Bush's war policies were repudiated by SCOTUS, signaling the end of Gitmo? All WRONG!! Watching the gleeful hysteria as the talking air heads delivered what they thought was bad news for GW Bush made me recall my daddy's wise words: "Empty tin cans make the most noise."
What the decision did not do: Gitmo can remain open until the end of hostilities. Inmates can be held at Gitmo without any trial of any kind indefinitely. If Bush chooses to use military tribunals, tweaked or the same as they are now, he can go to Congress and have revised legislation enacted. A redundancy, as pointed out by Justice Scalia since Congress has already passed the Detainee Treatment Act which provided for military tribunals and gave the President the authority to hold illegal combatants in Gitmo.
The decision doesn't change anything the President, acting as Commander-in-Chief in time of war, has been doing all along. Justice Scalia's dissent focuses on jurisdiction. The three conservative justices agreed that they never should've taken the case. Chief Justice Roberts recused himself because he heard the Hamdan case while on the D.C. Court of Appeals and sided with the government.
No retractions or apologies: Once the correct interpretation of the decision sunk in, the media went silent (as usual) and sniffed around for something more damaging to the Bush Administration.
Another example of shallow partisan reporting by the BushBadNews Media networks, was the profoundly faulty pronouncements of the meaning of the Supreme Court decision, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.
At first we heard loud and clear that SCOTUS reined in the Bush Administration's grab for executive power; AND, Bush's war policies were repudiated by SCOTUS, signaling the end of Gitmo? All WRONG!! Watching the gleeful hysteria as the talking air heads delivered what they thought was bad news for GW Bush made me recall my daddy's wise words: "Empty tin cans make the most noise."
What the decision did not do: Gitmo can remain open until the end of hostilities. Inmates can be held at Gitmo without any trial of any kind indefinitely. If Bush chooses to use military tribunals, tweaked or the same as they are now, he can go to Congress and have revised legislation enacted. A redundancy, as pointed out by Justice Scalia since Congress has already passed the Detainee Treatment Act which provided for military tribunals and gave the President the authority to hold illegal combatants in Gitmo.
The decision doesn't change anything the President, acting as Commander-in-Chief in time of war, has been doing all along. Justice Scalia's dissent focuses on jurisdiction. The three conservative justices agreed that they never should've taken the case. Chief Justice Roberts recused himself because he heard the Hamdan case while on the D.C. Court of Appeals and sided with the government.
No retractions or apologies: Once the correct interpretation of the decision sunk in, the media went silent (as usual) and sniffed around for something more damaging to the Bush Administration.
posted by JASmius at 4:36 PM
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