Posted: Tuesday, February 6, 2007 12:00 am
Speaking out in D.C. ended in trip to jail
By LEAH BOLGER
So now, I am a convict.
I was arrested, handcuffed, searched, shackled, interrogated, charged, jailed, arraigned, prosecuted and tried.
The trial process took five days, and the jury deliberated for 12 hours before finding me guilty. The judge sentenced me to five days incarceration (suspended), six months probation, $200 assessment and 100 hours of community service.
What was my crime? I stood in the gallery of the House of Representatives and shouted opposition to the Military Commissions Act for 29 seconds.
The Military Commissions Act (MCA) has been denounced by the American Bar Association, the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, among many others.
The MCA ignores international law and is a breach of the U.S. Constitution. It suspends the writ of habeas corpus for foreign prisoners and legalizes torture.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Bush administration acted outside the law with regard to prisoner detention in Cuba, the MCA retroactively exonerated its illegal actions. Simply put, it is an egregious affront to our judicial system. It was signed into law by President Bush on Oct. 17, 2006.
The evening after I had been sentenced, I attended a videoconference with Moazzam Begg and his lawyer. Moazzam is a British citizen who was working to construct a girls school in Afghanistan when he was taken into custody by U.S. military forces. He was tortured and held as a prisoner in Cuba and at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for more than four years - much of that time in solitary confinement. He never was charged with a crime nor shown any evidence against him. He was finally released and repatriated, but for more than 400 prisoners still being held in Guantanamo, the nightmare continues.
These men do not speak English; have had no contact with their families nor access to news or any reading material other than the Quran.
Our own government has admitted that a significant number have no connection to terrorism, yet the MCA says that we can hold them indefinitely, torture them and use any information gained through torture against them, should we ever decide to prosecute.
As a defendant, I gained a newfound understanding of our judicial system. Although I believe mine was definitely a case of misdirected justice, I did receive all the protections of the law. I knew why I was arrested, and when I would be released.
I was allowed to testify in my own defense and be represented by an attorney. I was shown the evidence presented against me, and my case was heard by a jury of 12 people.
What I went through helped me understand the imperative value of habeas corpus protection. I cannot - nor can anyone - truly imagine what it is like to be imprisoned indefinitely, subjected to torture, held in solitary confinement and be unable to communicate with anyone. If these men are ever released, they will have emotional scars that will never heal. Many of them will have gone insane, and others will take their own lives. The damage that has been done in our country's name is
permanent and irreconcilable.
What Congress and the president have done is illegal and unconstitutional. They have caused irreparable harm to our nation's credibility as a moral authority, and have set the standard by which we can expect U.S. citizens to be treated by other governments. Many experts are confident that ultimately, the Supreme Court will find this law unconstitutional.
But we should not wait for that long process to run its course. This despicable law must be revoked immediately.
Leah Bolger of Corvallis is retired from the Navy and is president of Veterans for Peace. She can be contacted at