美國新通過的法律

he Senate just approved a bill that accomplishes the following things:

- Revokes Habeas Corpus

- Creates a secret committee appointed by Bush and Rumsfeld that has the power to declare any person (even a US citizen) to be an enemy, instantly depriving them of their legal rights. There will be no appeal allowed.

Emphasis mine:
(1) UNLAWFUL ENEMY COMBATANT- (A) The term `unlawful enemy combatant' means--

`(i) a person who has engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its co-belligerents who is not a lawful enemy combatant (including a person who is part of the Taliban, al Qaeda, or associated forces); or

`(ii) a person who, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense.

- Allow police to search through your home without a search warrant.

- Ends protection of prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.

- Gives George W. Bush amnesty for any war crimes he has committed.

- Allows people to be put on trial in front of a kangaroo court military tribunal, even if they aren’t in any military, and have not engaged in military attacks against the USA.

- Allows the government to convict people of crimes on the basis of secret evidence that the accused never sees.

- Makes it legal for the government to use testimony extracted through torture. (supposedly for aliens only; but can we trust that they won't ignore that part?)

- Ends the legal right to be protected from forced self-incrimination.

- Allows the government to imprison people without telling them what crimes they are being charged with.

- Removes the right to cross-examine witnesses.

- Allows for the records of trials to be kept secret from the American public.

-> Enables trials to begin even before a thorough investigation of the alleged crime has taken place.

-> Takes away the right to a speedy trial, allowing people to fester behind bars without being charged of any crime.