Back in 2004, Thomas J. DiLorenzo wrote a piece titled “Bush’s Lincolnian Assault on Civil Liberties (Or, Al Gore is Right!)” Here is some background information:
Under Abraham Lincoln, Habeas corpus was unilaterally (and illegally) suspended … and the military, with the help of a secret police bureaucracy operated by William Seward, imprisoned tens of thousands of Northern political opponents. They were thrown into gulags such as Fort Lafayette in New York harbor where they were never charged, had no idea how long they would be held, and their families often had no idea of their whereabouts. (See James Randall, Constitutional Problems Under Lincoln; and Dean Sprague, Freedom Under Lincoln). The Virginia patriot George Washington would have undoubtedly drawn his sword and fought another revolution over such an outrage.
Bush acted in a similar fashion, suspending habeas corpus, in the name of national security after 9-11. Vice President Al Gore has stated his opinion on this matter (the article has much more):
As Vice President Gore explained, “President Bush has been attempting to conflate his commander-in-chief role and his head of government role to maximize . . . power . . .” Exactly. This is what makes him so “Lincolnesque,” much to the delight of the neocon establishment, no doubt. Father Abraham lives!
President Bush has “declared that our nation is now in a permanent state of war,” Gore pointed out, “which he says justifies his reinterpretation of the Constitution in ways that increase his personal power at the expense of Congress, the courts, and every individual citizen.”
Bush has said that he wants to spread his brand of democracy throughout the world. Well, it appears that he is getting his wish. Yesterday, General Musharraf, “president” of Pakistan, has suspended the constitution. He did this in the pursuit of victory on the global war on terror. In doing so, he cited President Abraham Lincoln . Mission accomplished (by the way, Bush gave his missioen accomplished speech on the USS Abrahan Lincoln). Publicly, the Bush administration has expressed disappointment in the suspension of the Pakistani constitution, but privately they probably feel “safer” knowing that their kind of leader is in charge. To the contrary, we should all feel ill at ease knowing that US support of brutal dictators, many of whom the US installed through coups, has left the world less stable.
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about more than global warming.
…to see that his good friend “General. I can’t name the general. General.” has been up his sleeve and is blatantly using the best tricks he’d been saving.
Sportspeople beware!
made me laugh, but the subject matter isn’t at all funny. I’ve been haunting the European and Middle Eastern news pages to keep track of all the heinous shit Musharraf is doing to his country.
In an article in the Guardian it says:
“Last night police arrested opposition politicians and senior lawyers including the chief justice’s lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, and Imran Khan. ‘Musharraf is acting like a spoiled child, holding the whole country hostage.”
That last line completely describes Shrub. He too is holding our country hostage to his and the neo-con’s insane hegemonistic nightmare.
And in this latest from the BBC it says that Musharraf will delay elections for up to a whole year. They were supposed to be held in January.
It also says this, which is incredibly disturbing:
“Mr Aziz said 400 to 500 “preventative arrests” had been made so far, and said the emergency, imposed by Gen Musharraf on Saturday, would last for “as long as is necessary”.
Preventative Arrests!!! That doesn’t count the arrests of those on the streets protesting.
This all makes me very nervous. Even if Condi and Shrub don’t condemn what is happening there, I sure hope the rest of the world will.