"Washington Bends the Rules", by James Bamford

James Bamford is the author, most recently, of "Body of
Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security
Agency.''
( a book worth reading. Djf
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Bellovin <smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 10:47:27 
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: NY Times OpEd: "Washington Bends the Rules", by James Bamford

Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without
having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested." So begins "The
Trial," Franz Kafka's story of an ordinary man caught in a legal
web where the more he struggles to find out what he did wrong, the
more trapped he becomes. "After all," says Kafka's narrator, "K.
lived in a state governed by law, there was universal peace, all
statutes were in force."

With increasing speed, the Justice Department of Attorney General
John Ashcroft is starting to resemble the "always vengeful bureaucracy"
that crushed Josef K. Recently, in two federal cases, the Justice
Department argued that it is within the president's inherent power
to indefinitely detain, without any charges, any person, including
any United States citizen, whom the president (through the Justice
Department) designates an "enemy combatant." Further, the person
can be locked away, held incommunicado and denied counsel. Finally,
Mr. Ashcroft argues that such a decision is not subject to review
by federal or state courts. This situation is beyond even Kafka,
who in his parable of punishment and paranoia at least supplied
Josef K. with an attorney.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/27/opinion/27BAMF.html


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