Sick to My Stomach

If you didn't know, the Senate passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (S. 3930) on Thursday afternoon, by a vote of 65-34. Earlier in the week I did something I had never done before; I called one of my senators to urge him to vote against it. Usually I send an email but this issue seemed to be too urgent. He did vote against the bill, but here we are. It has passed.

Here's a succinct recap of the bill's negative implications from the New York Times:

Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there’s no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses.

Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence.

Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture.

Many Rights in U.S. Legal System Absent in New Bill
Congress OKs detainee bill, but it may end up in court
Legal residents' rights curbed in detainee bill

How can a Christian look at this bill and approve? Since when does our personal security rise above the basic human needs and rights of any other person anywhere in the world? How many people are going to languish, unnamed and unknown in unnamed and unknown prisons for years because of our need for "security?" THESE ARE PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU AND ME. I can't believe that we are selfish enough to say our human rights are more important than theirs and then pat ourselves on the back for making our streets safer. The Christian understands that it is better to allow one's environment to become more physically dangerous than to sin!

And yes, I know we have done this before, but under the guise of not recognizing the personhood of the fetus. There is no way to deny the personhood of these "suspected enemy combatants" whether they be terrorists or not. Does God gaze at the terrorist more harshly than the simple murderer, or the thief or the other serious sinners in the world? We, as sinners, should be the first to recognize that we cannot select which of us will be painted with the black brush. It is all or nothing. Human beings have natural unalienable rights; human beings do not have these rights.

Our only hope now is that the courts will rule the bill unconstitutional, because nothing else will stop it now. I don't know what else to write. Thinking about this makes me feel sick, depressed, angry, fearful of what comes next.

God help us. Mary, patroness of America, pray for our country.