Replies to post #14211 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[webster groves]

The explanation was self-evident in my first sentence.

American citizens are now being held in solitary confinement in Federal prisons. There are no charges. They are being held officially as "material witnesses" for yet to be announced grand jury investigations at some unspecified date. They have no contact with family or lawyers.

Well, you say, they must be bad guys so they deserve it.
If they are bad guys, they should be charged, tried, convicted, and perhaps hung. But they have committed no crime, so they are not charged. If they are held but not charged, then habeus corpus applies. But an old law on material witnesses with a new twist now allows the government to imprison without trial for as long as they like. This was not done before the Bush administration. Aren't you aware of this ? It's been in the papers for over a year. It's more than the 1st amendment that's being ignored.

-wg