Posted by Matt Holdridge on 03/09/10 2:21 PM   [Newer: Stop the Federal Reserve From Shredding Its Records] [Older: Now No BEER With Your Cheese Steak]

From the Atlantic:

Why is the national security community treating the "Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010," introduced by Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman on Thursday as a standard proposal, as a simple response to the administration's choices in the aftermath of the Christmas Day bombing attempt? A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity. Read the bill here, and then read the summarized points after the jump.

According to the summary, the bill sets out a comprehensive policy for the detention, interrogation and trial of suspected enemy belligerents who are believed to have engaged in hostilities against the United States by requiring these individuals to be held in military custody, interrogated for their intelligence value and not provided with a Miranda warning.

The post goes on.

There is no distinction between U.S. persons--visa holders or citizens--and non-U.S. persons.)

It would require these "belligerents" to be coded as "high-value detainee[s]" to be held in military custody and interrogated for their intelligence value by a High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team established by the president. (The H.I.G., of course, was established to bring a sophisticated interrogation capacity to the federal justice system.) 

This begs the question, what is a "belligerent" and how loose will this definition become with time? 

Posted 03/09/10 2:08 PM BruceKoerber Cedar Rapids, IA

The dishonorable are the ones proposing what should be done. Let's all hope the forces of economic equilibrium come sooner rather than later!

Posted 03/09/10 2:30 PM justinb Oklahoma City, OK

Surprised you didn't highlight this piece of the legislation (page 9, starting line 13): An individual, including a citizen of the United 13 States, determined to be an unprivileged enemy belligerent 14 under section 3(c)(2) in a manner which satisfies Article 15 5 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of 16 Prisoners of War may be detained without criminal 17 charges and without trial for the duration of hostilities 18 against the United States or its coalition partners in which 19 the individual has engaged

Posted 03/09/10 4:28 PM justinb Oklahoma City, OK

There is already 9 co-sponsors to this bill. Please write your represenative if they're here: Sen Brown, Scott Sen Chambliss, Saxby Sen Inhofe, James M. Sen LeMieux, George S. Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. Sen Sessions, Jeff Sen Thune, John Sen Vitter, David Sen Wicker, Roger http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:1:./temp/~bdeUjm:@@@P|/bss /111search.html

Posted 03/10/10 08:28 AM ifc69 Midland, MI

I see Scott Brown is working out well. Or not.