CAN DEATH CAMPS BE FAR BEHIND?

Bush's Police State Kicks Into Gear (Ted Rall, AlterNet, June 13, 2002)

America may well be a safer place because Jose Padilla has "disappeared," to use the lexicon of Latin American death squads. But the manner in which this American has been stripped of his citizenship rights -- to a lawyer, to a speedy trial, to apply for bail -- is reminiscent of such totalitarian states as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. What the Bushies are doing to Padilla is an outrage and it could happen to any of us.

The legal basis for this action is a twisted joke. "Citizens who associate themselves with the military arm of the enemy government, and with its aid, guidance and direction enter this country bent on hostile acts, are enemy belligerents," ruled the Supreme Court in a precedent-setting case in 1942.

Now, admittedly I don't have the highly developed comic sense of this brilliant cartoonist, but am I the only one who fails to see the joke here? What would you call someone who is trying to nuke an American city on behalf of foreigners if not an enemy belligerent? Posted by Orrin Judd at June 18, 2002 7:17 PM