Bush proposes to suspend all rights

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, August 5, 2006

The Wednesday Herald carried a story about a proposal by the Bush administration to reconstitute the military court system to try people who are not members of al-Qaida or the Taliban and not directly involved in acts of international terrorism. This plan allows the Secretary of Defense to add crimes as he sees fit to the list of those under this court’s jurisdiction.

Under this proposal, defendants would lose the right to confront their accusers, the right to a speedy and public trial, the right to choose counsel, access to evidence held by the prosecution and, last but not least, exclusion of evidence obtained through torture.

The leader of the world’s only superpower, and incidentally, our country, is posed to declare martial law and the suspension of a major portion of the Constitution, and you bury it on page eight. Are you insane?

Harold R. Pettus

Everett