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‘Hero of Guantanamo’ on Detainee Bill: ‘I Don’t Believe’ It Will ‘Match Constitutional Muster’

By Payson Schwin on Oct 16, 2006 at 12:08 pm

Lt. Commander Charles Swift, the lawyer who represented Guantanamo detainee Salim Hamdan in the landmark Supreme Court case that ruled President Bush’s military commissions unconstitutional and in violation of international law, appeared on C-Span yesterday to take questions from viewers. Swift has been dubbed the “hero of Guantanamo,” yet he was recently “passed over for promotion” by the Pentagon.

Swift spoke forcefully against the detainee legislation the House and Senate approved in September. “Unfortuantely,” Swift said, Congress did “exactly what Justice Kennedy told them not to do” and passed “legislation that was done in the heat of the moment.” “I don’t believe that it’s going to match constitutional muster when the courts have an opportunity to take a look at it,” Swift added. Watch it:

[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2006/10/swift.320.240.flv]

Read a summary of the problems with the detainee bill HERE.

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Yglesias

America’s Imperial Tradition

By Matthew Yglesias on Oct 16, 2006 at 10:44 am

Robert Kagan’s cover story in The New Republic infuriated me to no end (shocking — an infuriating Robert Kagan article! An infuriating TNR foreign policy feature! both at once!) but one has to concede that, taken literalistically, he’s correct — George W. Bush hasn’t pulled the idea of imperialistic militarism out of his ass, this has long been an element of American political heritage and their are deep continuities between Bush’s policies and some policies other presidents have pursued in earlier times. Why Kagan thinks this observation has justificatory power, I couldn’t say. It’s also important to note that times really do change and Bush’s policies, though grounded in an authentic American tradition, are also genuinely novel. Let’s review.

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