This month human rights organizations all over the world have a dismal fact to report: The Military Commissions Act has been enacted for a year, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon. All interested students are encouraged to read this act- it will make you reach for your driver’s license to make sure that you are still living in the United States.

The United States has, for several decades, followed the Geneva Conventions. They are called Conventions because there are four of them, and all determine humane treatment for specific individuals in times of war. The first two concern medical personnel, the third prisoners of war, and the fourth, civilians. The interesting thing about the Geneva Conventions is that in order for the conventions to apply under international law, the prisoner must be classified as one of those three categories. So what does the MCA do? It gives prisoners who would normally be defined as POWs a new name that has no recognition in international law- “Unlawful Enemy Combatant”. There are no laws or conventions regarding unlawful enemy combatants because the term is brand new. Also, it is the government’s prerogative to determine who falls under the U.E.C category, it is not the decision of a court.

Habeas Corpus is a very special, important legal idea. It protects people from being imprisoned unlawfully or indefinitely, by allowing them to petition for a writ of habeas corpus- in other words, they get to go before a court and the court determines whether they are in prison lawfully or not. It is a day in court for people who feel they are having their freedoms stolen. The most outrageous thing that the MCA does is take away the right to get a writ of habeas corpus for anyone found to be an unlawful enemy combatant ( as defined by the government), or, get this, anyone who is “awaiting such determination”. There are probably people being held in Guantanamo Bay who are still awaiting their ‘official title’!

In the Introduction of the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007, the presenting senators, Specter and Leahy, relate a story told to them by an attorney who decided to go try to help at Guantanamo. The attorney told them about prisoners who were taken before the military tribunals who could not speak English, and even if they did speak English it didn’t matter, because they were not allowed access to the charges filed against them, much less provided with a lawyer. And no one can sue the government for unjust conduct or take any real action because: “No court, justice or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any action against the United States or its agents relating to any aspect of the detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or conditions of confinement of an alien who is or was detained by the United States…” ( MCA Section 7, (2))

Senator Specter and Senator Leahy point out that denying habeas corpus to our political prisoners makes a hypocrite out of every politician who stands and gives speeches about spreading democracy and freedom to the rest of the world( most of all President Bush himself).

Several bills are currently being moved through Congress to amend the MCA. One of them is the previously mentioned Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007, and the other is Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007, being promoted by Chris Dodd, a Democratic presidential candidate. Let’s hope that one of them gets through, and soon.

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