Bush's 'Apex' of Unlimited Power
By Nat Parry
June 15, 2004
George W. Bush is asserting presidential authority that in theory covers the lives and liberties of everyone, everywhere, U.S. citizens and foreigners alike, a claim of power so sweeping that it permits him to imprison, torture and kill at his choice without legal constraint anywhere in the world.
Bush’s belief in his unlimited authority is implicit in a series of administration legal opinions. They include Bush’s declaration that he has the power to arrest and indefinitely imprison anyone he deems an “enemy combatant,” no need for charges or a trial. Bush’s lawyers also are claiming for him the right to order the torturing of anyone in U.S. government custody and the power to kill his international enemies whenever he judges that necessary, even if civilian bystanders also must die.
It’s not so much that Bush is saying that he is above the law or even that he – regally – is the law. He is claiming that no law can infringe on his inherent power to do whatever he wishes as commander in chief. It is a declaration of personal authority unprecedented in scope and contemptuous of American constitutional checks and balances. Ultimately, this Bush Doctrine of Presidential Power is what’s at stake in the Nov. 2 elections.
While elements of Bush’s grand self-vision have been known for months, the full picture has only slowly come into focus. In June 2002, Bush ordered U.S. citizen Jose Padilla detained indefinitely, incommunicado, without formal charges and without constitutional rights, simply on Bush’s assertion that the alleged al-Qaeda operative was an “enemy combatant.”
In August 2002, the Justice Department asserted that international laws against torture don't apply to interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects. Around the same time, White House lawyers asserted that the President has the right to wage war without authorization from Congress. And during the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Bush authorized the bombings of civilian targets, including a restaurant, merely on the belief that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein or other Iraqi leaders might be there. The latest piece of the picture became apparent in Attorney General John Ashcroft’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 8, when Ashcroft refused to show Congress the administration’s memos arguing that Bush has the inherent authority to order torture whenever he deems that necessary.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/061504.html
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