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Hawkins Faults Clinton, Democrats for Failing to Filibuster Military Commissions Act
Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for US Senate, castigated the Hillary Clinton and Senate Democrats for failing to filibuster the Military Commission Act of 2006 recently approved by Congress and signed into law Tuesday by President Bush. |
“The Military Commissions Act sets us back nearly 800 years to 1214, the year before the Magna Carta, which established the right of habeas corpus, the right to challenge one’s imprisonment as illegal before a court that is independent of the executive branch of government. Now the president can label anyone, US citizen or foreign national, a so-called illegal enemy combatant and send them away in secret to military prison forever. The definition is so broad it could apply to antiwar activists engaged in nonviolent protests or humanitarian aid to the victims of US military aggression,” noted Hawkins.
“Democrats always tell progressives to support them as the lesser of two evils. But when it is time to confront the greater evil, the Democrats invariably roll over and are missing in action. The Democrats rubber-stamped this assault on human rights in the name of the so-called war on terrorism. It will further justify the growing worldwide perception of America as the evil empire,” said Hawkins.
Hawkins asked, “What is filibuster for if not to stop this kind of outrage in the heat of an election campaign? Was Robert Byrd sick the week this passed the Senate? Where was Russell Feingold? We know Clinton would never filibuster this runaway militarism. She is too busy taking in runaway campaign contributions from the PACs of military contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. It’s obvious that the Democrats rolled over for the Bush fearing last minute attack ads. The Democrats don’t have the backbone to fight back.”
“The Democrats are afraid of being labeled soft on terrorism. As a result, they are as stupid on terrorism as the Republicans. The question is not being hard or soft on terrorism, but being smart or stupid. The stupid approach of US foreign and military policy has created terrorists, first of all by decades of training, financing, and encouraging the terrorism of the Islamic right throughout the Middle East against secular nationalist and leftist movements. Add US support for Israel’s expanding settlements and military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, US military bases in over 100 other countries, US bombing of another country every 18 months on average since World War II, and now the installation of puppet regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq through US military force, and it is not surprising that some of the victims try to strike back. A smart approach would reverse these policies and make friends instead of enemies by being the world’s humanitarian superpower instead of its global military occupation force,” Hawkins said.
“This Military Commissions Act will do nothing to stop stateless terrorism and could be used to eliminate activists who oppose US state terrorism using methods that used to be protected by the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution,” Hawkins said.
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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