More Viciousness

Here's one more example why the Bush Administration and most of the GOP don't believe in any of the ideals that separated Americans from much of the world for most of our existence.

If you can believe it, Republicans and a minority of Democrats have rebuked an Amendment to the detainee bill that would've allowed terror suspects the right to argue their innocence before a court. This is an essential right in any society dedicated to philosophical Enlightenment and classical liberal ideals or the foundations of modern Western democracy.

The NYTs puts it succinctly:

[The detainee bill] strips detainees of a habeas corpus right to challenge their detentions in court and broadly defines what kind of treatment of detainees is prosecutable as a war crime.

If I'm not mistaken, the last time habeas corpus was suspended was by President Lincoln during the Civil War.

It seems the Bush Administration and its new breed of conservatives, which are anything but in philosophic terms, believe betting on bad precedents is the way to win this war on Islamo-fascists -- a term I applaud despite the backlash against it.

I believe history will show them wrong.