Supreme Court Decision Bushwhacks King George II

Dear Mr. President:

It is reported by the Associated Press that you “strongly disagreed with a Supreme Court ruling that clears foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.” The article goes on to suggest that you may seek new legislation. For what reason- to keep the American people safe?

Not, this time, Mr. President. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on… not so fast. This is a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that you are trying to sidestep, not the Court of The Hague. And, this is the United States Congress that you are trying to manipulate.

Remember, there are three separate but co-equal branches of government, and one should not be intimidated by the other.

Senator Barack Obama issued a statement praising the Supreme Court 5-4 decision as a clear repudiation of this administration’s POW policies. Even most American people will agree on the due process rights of the accused. It is wholly unconstitutional to suspend habeas corpus, and even more demeaning to circumvent these protections by off-shore international camouflage.

“The Court's decision is a rejection of the Bush Administration's attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantanamo,” says Obama. “This is an important step toward reestablishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law… I voted against the Military Commissions Act because its sloppiness would inevitably lead to the Court, once again, rejecting the Administration's extreme legal position.”

Your administration has been operating in a legal no-man’s land throughout the prosecution of this war. And, you continue to go back to the well and ask Congress to write another “blank check” for more and more authority, when clearly you have abused the powers you already have.

For years, these so-called terrorist suspects have been held, without definitive charges, in secret locations, held incommunicado, restricted from the U.S. legal system, protections, and rights. And, as their cases come to trial before a military tribunal of your own concoction, we discover that some of these so-called terrorists were as young as 12 or 13 years old when they were captured and, even worse, some of these children have been subjected to harsh interrogation and torture.

According to Lt Commander Jeffrey Gordon, Senior Pentagon spokesman... "There is no international standard concerning the age of an individual who engages in combat operations... Age is not a determining factor in detention. [of those] engaged in armed conflict against our forces or in support to those fighting against us."

This administration has shown no mercy on the innocence of The Child, nor properly considered their innocence or guilt, such as in the case of child soldier Omar Ahmed Khadr, the 15-year old taken captive after Special Forces stormed his village, blew up his house, and kill his father.

I ask you, Mr. President: What would you, as a teenager, do? This was the circumstances surrounding the capture of Khadr and many children like him. This is the group of so-called terrorists now on hunger strike to demonstrate their plight to the world.

And, you say that you strongly disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision- you have no intent of complying with the Court’s mandates, anyway.