What is the Loss of Habeas Corpus?

The following is a letter I wrote in response to this letter in the Washington Observer / Reporter

This is in response to some of the responses to the Letter Entitled “Could a letter writer be made to disappear?” Let me start by saying those who have not read, HR 6166 should do so. The definition of an Enemy Combatant is so wide open that any one can be tagged an enemy combatant. Now that’s cleared up, let me explain what the loss of Habeas Corpus will mean to us.

Loosely translated Habeas Corpus means. “Show the body.” In other words show me the evidence you have against me. Habeas Corpus is a very important right of the accused. With out Habeas Corpus, you can be held with out a hearing indefinitely. From what I read in the Detainee Bill, if you receive a trial, it is more than likely not going to be fair.

An example: If you protest against the government, you can be labeled an enemy combatant, and held without trial. If you retain a lawyer, the law is written so loosely the lawyer that is representing you can be charged as an enemy combatant. Also as an enemy combatant, you do not have the right to trial by a jury of your peers. You will receive a military trial.

You might be saying to yourself well I would not protest the war, or against this government. Then I would ask if you have children, or grandchildren between 18 and 26? Eventually there will no choice, but to reinstate a draft. When that day comes, are you going to stand idly by and watch them forced into a war for the lies and sins of this administration? I highly doubt it.

One thing we as a people need to realize is, since the midnight signing of the Patriot Act, our rights and liberties have begun to disappear. The Patriot Act uses a broad definition of the word terrorist; anyone can be deemed a terrorist under the act.
The Patriot Act also weakens the powers of the Judiciary. With the signing of such laws as the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, and five revisions of the Patriot Act, the Judiciary has lost power to question actions of this administration. Thus breaking the very checks and balances that the government was based upon. These laws as heinous as they are, they pale in comparison to what has just be signed into law in HR 6166. Because this administration and future administrations now have an unprecedented power over those that they were, suppose to serve.

I ask those of you who are reading this “Are you willing to give up your rights and freedoms for a “false sense of security“? If you answered yes, as Ben Franklin said, you deserve neither.
So in answer to the author of “Could a letter writer be made to disappear?” My answer to you is yes!