Slip Sliding Away

“The government’s compelling interests in wartime justify restrictions on the scope of individual liberty,” “First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully.”

John Yoo

Yesterday's revelations regarding the release of previously unknown Justice Department memos are chilling. But what is more frightening is the quiet acquiescence of the American public in the surrender of their civil rights. The scope of these memos is astounding. They include:

*Suspension of American's rights to free speech and freedom of the press in a time of war.

*A dandy recipe for exporting prisoners to countries that torture as long as they don't explicitly admit to torture.

*Allowing the United States military to conduct domestic operations and conduct warrant less searches against both foreigners and United States Citizens.

*Allow the President to unilaterally suspend treaties.

*Allow the executive branch to bypass restrictions on domestic surveillance and take other actions to combat terrorism without the approval of Congress.

*Allow the use of waterboarding and other coercive techniques on prisoners.

*Suspend the Fourth Amendment - The country, Yoo argued, was in a "state of armed conflict." The scale of violence, he argued, was unprecedented and "legal and constitutional rules" governing law enforcement—such as the Fourth Amendment prohibition on "unreasonable" searches and seizures—did not apply.

*The memo held that FISA law did not apply to the President on national security matters.

*Vest the President with the power to imprison United States citizens on United States soil without charges for an indefinite period.

*Claimed unrestricted right to interrogate subjects outside of the United States.

*Authorized the infliction of pain and suffering on prisoners.

These are only some of the memos that have come to light. There are several others that are still secret and may be soon disclosed. But the reality is that until these legal memorandums were rescinded five days before President Obama took office, we were living in a state of martial law. President Bush, along with his aiders and abettors both in Congress and in the Supreme Court, was successful in creating a total dictatorship with no notion of checks and balances. After having lived through this process, I can see how General Franco and Adolf Hitler so easily consolidated their power.

John Yoo, Jay Bybee, Steven Bradbury, Delahunty, Haynes and Co. did not create these perverted memoranda in a vacuum. These support documents were actively pursued by Attorney General Gonzales and Dick Cheney as legal cover for their twisted actions. Antonin Scalia certainly helped the cause when he stated that the rights of the United States citizen could be ratcheted down to the bare minimum.

I fear that we are only touching the tip of the iceberg. With the CIA now admitting that it destroyed ninety two interrogation tapes, one must wonder what other nefarious actions will never see the light of day. I join Senator Pat Leahy and others in Congress in calling for a full investigation into the actions of the previous administration so that we can hopefully never revisit these sad attacks on our constitution. I was raised with the notion that our government worked through a system of checks and balances. We have just seen an executive office run amok. And we were once again stupid enough to let them.