[CitizensTruth] Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war

[Daniel Stafford]

*Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring 
indefinite state of war**

John Byrne
*Published: Saturday August 30, 2008

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_seeks_to_institutionalize_war_powers_0830.html

As the nation focuses on Sen. John McCain's choice of running mate, 
President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential 
power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war.

Buried in a recent proposal by the Administration is a sentence that has 
received scant attention -- and was buried itself in the very newspaper 
that exposed it Saturday. It is an affirmation that the United States 
remains at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and "associated organizations."

Part of a proposal for Guantanamo Bay legal detainees, the provision 
before Congress seeks to "acknowledge again and explicitly that this 
nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, 
and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at 
war with us and who are dedicated to the slaughter of Americans."

The /New York Times/' page 8 placement of the article 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/washington/30terror.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print> 
in its Saturday edition seems to downplay its importance. Such a 
re-affirmation of war carries broad legal implications that could 
imperil Americans' civil liberties and the rights of foreign nationals 
for decades to come.

It was under the guise of war that President Bush claimed a legal 
mandate for his warrantless wiretapping program, giving the National 
Security Agency power to intercept calls Americans made abroad. More of 
this program has emerged in recent years, and it includes the 
surveillance of Americans' information and exchanges online.

"War powers" have also given President Bush cover to hold Americans 
without habeas corpus -- detainment without explanation or charge. Jose 
Padilla <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Padilla_%28prisoner%29>, 
a Chicago resident arrested in 2002, was held without trial for five 
years before being convicted of conspiring to kill individuals abroad 
and provide support for terrorism.

But his arrest was made with proclamations that Padilla had plans to 
build a "dirty bomb." He was never convicted of this charge. Padilla's 
legal team also claimed that during his time in military custody -- the 
four years he was held without charge -- he was tortured with sensory 
deprivation, sleep deprivation, forced stress positions and injected 
with drugs.

/Times/ reporter Eric Lichtblau notes that the measure is the latest 
step that the Administration has taken to "make permanent" key aspects 
of its "long war" against terrorism. Congress recently passed a 
much-maligned bill giving telecommunications companies retroactive 
immunity for their participation in what constitutional experts see as 
an illegal or borderline-illegal surveillance program, and is 
considering efforts to give the FBI more power in their investigative 
techniques.

"It is uncertain whether Congress will take the administration up on its 
request," Lichtblau writes. "Some Republicans have already embraced the 
idea, with Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican 
on the Judiciary Committee, introducing a measure almost identical to 
the administration's proposal. 'Since 9/11,' Mr. Smith said, 'we have 
been at war with an unconventional enemy whose primary goal is to kill 
innocent Americans.'"

If enough Republicans come aboard, Democrats may struggle to defeat the 
provision. Despite holding majorities in the House and Senate, they have 
failed to beat back some of President Bush's purported "security" 
measures, such as the telecom immunity bill.

Bush's open-ended permanent war language worries his critics. They say 
it could provide indefinite, if hazy, legal justification for any number 
of activities -- including detention of terrorists suspects at bases 
like Guantanamo Bay (where for years the Administration would not even 
release the names of those being held), and the NSA's warantless 
wiretapping program.

Lichtblau co-wrote the /Times/ article revealing 
<http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1216-01.htm> the 
Administration's eavesdropping program along with fellow reporter James 
Risen.

He notes that Bush's language "recalls a resolution, known as the 
Authorization for Use of Military Force, passed by Congress on Sept. 14, 
2001... [which] authorized the president to 'use all necessary and 
appropriate force' against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks to 
prevent future strikes. That authorization, still in effect, was 
initially viewed by many members of Congress who voted for it as the 
go-ahead for the administration to invade Afghanistan and overthrow the 
Taliban, which had given sanctuary to Mr. bin Laden."

"But the military authorization became the secret legal basis for some 
of the administration's most controversial legal tactics, including the 
wiretapping program, and that still gnaws at some members of Congress," 
he adds.

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