Friday, August 25, 2006
Another travesty...but we should trust them!
Who is Murat Kuraz, and why in the world should you care?
Murat is a German resident with Turkish citizenship. He traveled to Pakistan for what he intended to be a short time of studying Islam. Unfortunately for him he chose to do this immediately before 09/11, and he was arrested by Pakistani authorities. He was then turned over to the Americans and accused of having ties to Al Qaida. He would spend the next four years in Guantanamo Bay.
Murat has been found by Judicial review to be innocent of the charges against him. This despite several determinations by sham military proceedings at Guantanamo that Mr. Kuraz was indeed an enemy combatant based upon secret information and without the accused being given legal representation.
How does this affect you? Quite simply this is a clear cut case in which the Administrations determination that a person was connected to terrorism was shown to be entirely based upon fabrications and shoddy intelligence. It took several judicial proceedings and some very tangled negotiations with Germany for Murat to gain his freedom.
What an absolute travesty. Imagine the horror of being connected with terrorists and having 4 years of your life taken from you. What about the feelings of his family and loved ones? These years are just irreplacable.
But George Bush and his stoolies would have you believe that they are able to determine who is or isn't affiliated with terrorism when it comes to whom they can spy upon with the NSA. They insist they have super secret information that can not be shared with a judge, and that if we all knew what they did then we would be entirely understanding. I say quite simply that the case of Murat is yet another in many cases in which the administration has quite simply gotten it wrong.
Consider the following examples: The federal no fly list is rife with inaccuracies. This list is supposed to stop people affiliated with terrorism (the same people George Bush et al think should be spied upon) from flying due to the supposed risk they represent to airliners. Some people who have been put on this list are Randi Rhodes, (nationally syndicated liberal radio talk show host) Democrat(ic) Senator Ted Kennedy, singer Cat Stevens, outspoken critic of Bush and author of Bush's Brain James Moore, Democratic Representative John Lewis, and many more obviously innocent would be fliers. Yet we are asked to just accept the supposed right of this obviously confused administration to determine who ought to be spied upon, with no judicial oversight.
The Assistant A.G. told Federal Judge Joyce Hen Greens that the U.S. Military could indefinitely detain a little old lady from Switzerland, who may inadvertently give a donation to a terrorist organization believing they helped orphans. Assistant A.G. Brian Boyle also asserted that an English teacher in England who taught English to the son of an Al Qaida agent also could be held indefinitely as an enemy combatant. So little old ladies and English teachers who are just living normal lives are compared to those carrying bullets on the front lines by this administration. The believe if you talk to these folks that you ought to be spied upon, and they do not want judicial review of their program.
There are many more examples of this administration mistakenly accusing people of connections to terrorism. Innocents who are rendered to be tortured in foreign lands, lawyers wrongfully arrested for connections with bombings half the world away and on and on and on. We must demand that this administration follow constitutional principles in fighting the war on terror. Because acting on their own hook they have made too many mistakes to allow them to continue unchecked. Just remember, without Judicial review, Mr. Kuraz would still be rotting in Guantanamo Bay.
Murat is a German resident with Turkish citizenship. He traveled to Pakistan for what he intended to be a short time of studying Islam. Unfortunately for him he chose to do this immediately before 09/11, and he was arrested by Pakistani authorities. He was then turned over to the Americans and accused of having ties to Al Qaida. He would spend the next four years in Guantanamo Bay.
Murat has been found by Judicial review to be innocent of the charges against him. This despite several determinations by sham military proceedings at Guantanamo that Mr. Kuraz was indeed an enemy combatant based upon secret information and without the accused being given legal representation.
How does this affect you? Quite simply this is a clear cut case in which the Administrations determination that a person was connected to terrorism was shown to be entirely based upon fabrications and shoddy intelligence. It took several judicial proceedings and some very tangled negotiations with Germany for Murat to gain his freedom.
What an absolute travesty. Imagine the horror of being connected with terrorists and having 4 years of your life taken from you. What about the feelings of his family and loved ones? These years are just irreplacable.
But George Bush and his stoolies would have you believe that they are able to determine who is or isn't affiliated with terrorism when it comes to whom they can spy upon with the NSA. They insist they have super secret information that can not be shared with a judge, and that if we all knew what they did then we would be entirely understanding. I say quite simply that the case of Murat is yet another in many cases in which the administration has quite simply gotten it wrong.
Consider the following examples: The federal no fly list is rife with inaccuracies. This list is supposed to stop people affiliated with terrorism (the same people George Bush et al think should be spied upon) from flying due to the supposed risk they represent to airliners. Some people who have been put on this list are Randi Rhodes, (nationally syndicated liberal radio talk show host) Democrat(ic) Senator Ted Kennedy, singer Cat Stevens, outspoken critic of Bush and author of Bush's Brain James Moore, Democratic Representative John Lewis, and many more obviously innocent would be fliers. Yet we are asked to just accept the supposed right of this obviously confused administration to determine who ought to be spied upon, with no judicial oversight.
The Assistant A.G. told Federal Judge Joyce Hen Greens that the U.S. Military could indefinitely detain a little old lady from Switzerland, who may inadvertently give a donation to a terrorist organization believing they helped orphans. Assistant A.G. Brian Boyle also asserted that an English teacher in England who taught English to the son of an Al Qaida agent also could be held indefinitely as an enemy combatant. So little old ladies and English teachers who are just living normal lives are compared to those carrying bullets on the front lines by this administration. The believe if you talk to these folks that you ought to be spied upon, and they do not want judicial review of their program.
There are many more examples of this administration mistakenly accusing people of connections to terrorism. Innocents who are rendered to be tortured in foreign lands, lawyers wrongfully arrested for connections with bombings half the world away and on and on and on. We must demand that this administration follow constitutional principles in fighting the war on terror. Because acting on their own hook they have made too many mistakes to allow them to continue unchecked. Just remember, without Judicial review, Mr. Kuraz would still be rotting in Guantanamo Bay.
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