Death of the Republic

As you may have read, today is earmarked to be the day our Republic dies. President Bush is set to sign into law the blatantly unconstitutional Military Commissions Act of 2006. How long would you guess before an American citizen is tried under these military commissions. The clock is running. I'm guessing about six months for Americans who are right now held in custody, and about nine months after that "conviction" for any American citizen who is arrested and determineded to be an "unlawful enemy combatant." Naturally, the test case will involve an American citizen who is of Arabian or Persian dissent. Once they get a precedent set, the gloves are off. We all become fair game.

Here are a couple quotations for you to take with you:

• (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. (Source: Military Commissions Act of 2006 [pdf])
• "President Bush is going to mark this bill signing as a historic moment because it is a law that he knows will be effective in preventing terrorist attacks and keeping Americans safe," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
  
  Bush needed the legislation because the Supreme Court in June said the administration's plan for trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law. (Source: Bush to sign law on terror suspects)

Think about this, in the definition of Unlawful Enemy Combatant, there is no language that precludes American citizens from being designated as such. Furthermore, this bill still does not address the Supreme Court's concern that these newly created commissions are not violative of U.S. and international laws governing prosecutions of war crimes.