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Top Constitutional Scholar: Secret Bush Memos Reveal
Plan For "Massive Military Takeover Of US"
Expert says Yoo memos instigate "Law by fiat",
"Fuhrer's law", "constitutes treason"
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 A
top constitutional scholar has said that recently
released Justice Department memos prove that nefarious
elements within the Bush Administration were planning a massive
military takeover of the country and that the documents should
be used to bring charges of treason.
In an interview
with author Naomi Wolf, legal expert Michael Ratner
explains how the move toward total elimination of First, Fourth
and Fifth amendment rights, as outlined in the memos, cannot
be taken in isolated relation to terrorism related prosecutions
and instead represents a smoking gun of a larger intention toward
the general population.
"The memos revealed how massive the takeover
of our democracy was to be -- that this wasn't just going to
be a few individuals here or there who suffered the arrows of
a police state." Ratner says.
"These memos lay the groundwork for a massive
military takeover of the United States in cahoots with the president.
And if that's not a coup d'etat then, nothing is."
The nine
DOJ memos, released earlier this month, were mostly
written by former assistant attorney general John Yoo. They
reveal how the rights of all American citizens have been effectively
stripped away under the auspices of the so called "war
on terror".
They argue for a broad range of powers under the
office of the president that cannot be restricted by any law
or constitutional right or treaty.
They argue that the legal rights of anyone considered
a terrorist suspect can be completely rescinded by the president,
that the president may order the military to operate in the
U.S. without constitutional restrictions, that the prohibition
on unreasonable search and seizure takes a back seat to fighting
terrorism domestically, and that the president can, in the name
of wartime restrictions, limit free speech.
Read our previous summary of the memos here.
(Article continues below)
Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights,
describes the legal arguments made in the memos as "Law
by fiat", underscoring the historical precedent of such
attempts to subvert long established legal protections and processes.
"If you are familiar with the history of
dictators, coups and fascism (as I know you are), they (the
planners) prefer a veneer of legality." Ratner explains.
"Hitler killed 6 million Jews with a veneer
of legality -- getting his dictatorial powers through the Reichstag
and the courts. These memos gave the Bush administration's [lawless]
practices the veneer of legality."
"Who has suspended the law this way in the past? It is
like a Caesar's law in Rome; a Mussolini's law in Italy; a Fuhrer's
law in Germany; a Stalin's law in the Soviet Union. It is right
down the line. It is enforcing the will of the dictator through
the military."
Ratner believes that the memos provide ground for charges of
treason against Bush Administration officials such as Dick Cheney
and the president himself.
"I do think that a plan to control the military,
use it in the United States contrary to law and the Constitution
and employ it to levy a war or takeover that eliminates the
democratic institutions of the country constitutes treason,
even if done under the president of the United States."
"The authority given by these memos that could be used
to raid every congressional office, raid and search every home,
detain tens of thousands, would certainly fit a definition of
treason."
Perhaps most importantly, Ratner acknowledges the fact that
the details outlined in the memos were, to a great extent, actively
implemented.
"Here they crept right up and actually implemented part
of the plan, with Padilla, with the warrantless wiretapping.
Yet they are saying in the White House and in Congress that
it is looking backward to investigate the authors of these memos
and those who instructed Yoo and others to write them."
"But investigation and prosecutions are really looking
forward -- to say we need the deterrence of prosecution so this
does not happen again." Ratner states.
As we have previously outlined, we have not seen any deviation
from the Bush-era war on terror policies by Obama.
There has been no repeal of Patriot Acts I and II by the Obama
administration. Nor have we seen a reversal of Bush's signing
statement that would effectively repeal the John
Warner Defense Authorization Act, legislation that
stemmed directly from the opinions and counsel offered in the
previously secret Justice Department memos.
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