Former secretary of state Coliln Powell's call to close down Guantanamo Bay keeps up the pressure on the Bush administration to rethink its stance on the prison camp.
Last week, military judges at the camp ruled that Congress had no authorised the Bush administration to try 'enemy combatants' through military commissions. This week, a Court of Appeals rejected the administration's efforts to detail a Qatari citizen in the US, suspected of involvement in 9/11, as an 'enemy combatant'. That would mean that the Qatari cannot be held indefinitely without charges- the favoured tool of the Bush administration in its war on terror- and would have to be tried as a civilian.
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The War on Terror has turned inwards with the VP Cheney running roughshod over the principles upon which the US was founded. The current President Bush appears to be an appendage to that of the office of the VP - Historians will examine this period in our history and their jaws will drop as to the extent to which there has been an abuse of power by the executive branch. President Nixon will look like a saint in comparison.
During these waning days of the administration, the VP seems to be taking even more stringent steps to protect what he and his office does and in effect is daring everyone to challenge his authority. Warrantless spying, secret courts, the suspension of habeas corpus - these are some things we know.
It is time for General Powell and individuals like him who had run-in's with the CreeVP to come out and paint the picture of how one man has taken over the Presidency and is essentially unchecked. The courts have taken some notice, but too little, too late.
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