September 18, 2007
by Steve Osborn

The following is a letter I wrote to my alleged representatives in Washington - urging them to support passage of S.185, "Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007."

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Suppose you made a phone call, but accidentally misdialed. Unbeknown to you, that number was to a suspected terrorist chief.

At three in the morning, a black van pulls into your driveway. You answer the door and are grabbed, hooded and thrown into the van. Your wife comes down to see who it was and sees the van pull away. She dials 911 and tells what happened. She is put on hold, then told that it is a national security matter and they can give no further information.

She cannot find out what happened to you, you do not know where you have been taken, or why you have been taken. Your answer is just questions, to which you have no answers. Possibly you are beaten, left naked in a cold room, then dragged out and questioned again, and again, and again. You demand an attorney and are laughed at and beaten again. "Terrorists don't rate attorneys," you are told.

This is the United States that your unquestioning inaction and timidity has left us with.

I'm writing to urge you to support the "Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007" (S.185) offered by Senators Leahy and Specter to restore the historic right of habeas corpus, which Congress restricted in the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Habeas corpus is the bedrock of American justice. Without habeas rights, government prisoners are denied a fair hearing in court to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, including the way they are treated in their confinement. Imprisoning people without a fair trial is unconstitutional and un-American.

The government should not be allowed to keep people in prison indefinitely without due process of law.  That's the hallmark of fascist dictatorships, not constitutional democracies.

On June 7th, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to take the first step to restore habeas corpus by approving S. 185. I urge you to vote YES on this critical amendment.

We the People of the United States want our Constitution and Bill of Rights, intact and functioning, back in the Halls of Government.

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In the past seven years, we have learned to be far more afraid of our "government" than we are of alleged foreign "terrorists." We can deal with terrorists and their acts, if any, in a constitutional government. We cannot deal with anything with a government whose functionaries ignore their oaths of office from the top down; to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." We the People are finding we have no more rights than a German under Hitler. Little by little, the "government" is consolidating its power against We the People, using the stalking horse of "terrorism" to attain its ends.

The camps may be ready, thanks to Halliburton and KBR's no bid contracts, but we are NOT! We the People of the United States are mad as hell and we aren't going to take it anymore! You lap dogs and lackeys are the expendable ones, as is the madman in the White House and his pet monkey.

Return our Constitutional Rights. Cut off funding for Cheney/Bush's futile and disastrous occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and forbid them any further wars of opportunity. Do this quickly and perhaps We the People will regain at least some faith in our alleged representatives.

Thomas Jefferson said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

We the People would rather use the ballot box, if possible, but the tree is looking very droopy right now.

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Stephen M. Osborn [send him email] is a freelance writer living on Camano Island in the Pacific Northwest. He is an "Atomic Vet." (Operation Redwing, Bikini Atoll 1956, ) who has been very active working and writing for nuclear disarmament and world peace. He is a retired Fire Battalion Chief, lifelong sailor, writer, poet, philosopher, historian and former newspaper columnist.