Help, please. What exactly is an "enemy combatant?"

[Lone_Star_Dem]

I'm trying to get a handle on just who exactly fits into the definitions of "enemy combatant."

Definition of enemy combatant is what, a person from the enemies side of a war? That's what I have always thought it to be anyway.

So the US is at war on terror thus all terrorist are enemy combatants. OK. However, this is where I get confused, we are also at war on drugs, so all drug user are therefore enemy combatants. Then there's the war on poverty, I suppose that makes all poor people enemy combatants, too. Aren't we also at war on hunger and illiteracy? Guess the hungry and illiterate are also on that list.

Do I have this right, or is my understanding of the definition off?

[niyad]

1. anybody who disagrees with the cabal on anything

[mom cat]

11. It means anything the Red King wants it to mean!

[phantom power]

2. still not quite right: An "enemy combatant" is whoever Bush says.

I wish I were being sarcastic, but that appears to be the legality of it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. So, the new definition is, any person who is the enemy of the bush Admin?

Is that how it reads? That's even more asinine than I was imagining.

[phantom power]

16. Here's what Glenn Greenwald has to say about it:

This last point means that even if there were a habeas corpus right inserted back into the legislation (which is unlikely at this point anyway), it wouldn't matter much, if at all, because the law would authorize your detention simply based on the DoD's decree that you are an enemy combatant, regardless of whether it was accurate. This is basically the legalization of the Jose Padilla treatment -- empowering the President to throw people into black holes with little or no recourse, based solely on his say-so.

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/09/legalization-of-torture-an_115945829460324274.html

[leftofthedial]

3. you are

now

[rosesaylavee]

4. You. Me.

Anyone who they decide is not on the 'right' side.

[northzax]

5. technically

and enemy combatant is anyone who takes up arms against you in a war zone without wearing a uniform or being in the service of a foreign state.

to Bush? it's anyone he doesn't like.

[MallRat]

6. Anything that President Bush deems it to be.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why America died yesterday.

We have turned our presidency into a monarchy.

[ClintonTyree]

7. Anything Bush says it is............

or who. Bush can do just about anythng he wants now and no one can stop him. Gotta' love that freedom! :puke:

[madrchsod]

9. you are because you asked

[Jawja]

10. Read the

"Military Commissions Act of 2006" available through the link below. This document explains clearly what a lawful and unlawful enemy combatant is according to the new Military Tribunal procedures:

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/nkk/documents/MilitaryCommissions.pdf

[Lone_Star_Dem]

17. Scary stuff there

Thanks for the informative link.

[Jawja]

26. Yes. That's

not the actual Bill that was passed, but close enough to it.

I noticed that in the section that outlined the guidelines for "enemy combatants" as determined by by the President or Secretary of Defense did not determine whether this applied to "aliens," as defined or can include American citizens. I am thinking it applies only to aliens, but I am not 100% sure until I read the actual Bill that was passed yesterday.

on edit: here's a discussion about it on DU:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2248028&mesg_id=2248028

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. So much for this web definition--US citizens are now officially fucked

The term, Enemy Combatant, is used by the Bush administration to refer to a person designated by the US President as an enemy fighter, even if he/she is not a member of an army, like Guantanamo prisoners. The term also applies to US citizens, like Padilla. The US courts ruled in 2004 that even if a person is classified as such, he/she could have access to federal courts, which means the right to an attorney, due process, and a trial.
http://tinyurl.com/qsmjg

And here's the Pentagon's 2005 definition (lengthy)
http://www.discourse.net/archives/2005/04/pentagon_issues_broad_definition_of_enemy_combatant.html

And another definition:
"Enemy Combatant" is a phrase invented by the US Government in the aftermath of 9/11. There is no clear definition of exactly what an "Enemy Combatant" is, however if the president designates a person under this phrase they can be detained indefinitely without charge or trial by the authorities, with no right to appeal and no right to a lawyer - even if they are a US citizen.
http://www.adequacy.org/stories/2002.8.18.10554.1907.html

[mmonk]

13. It's not written down or codified or anything like that.

It's a made up term that only bush determines the nature of it and who it applies to.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. Jawja's link above pretty much says the same thing

This is even worse than I thought. :(

[SoCalDem]

14. Whoever king George says...

:(

[kilaana]

18. Here are the definitions in the bill that passed yesterday

According the the new Torture Bill S.3930 that was passed yesterday:

`Sec. 948a. Definitions

`In this chapter:
`(1) ALIEN- The term `alien' means an individual who is not a citizen of the United States.
`(2) CLASSIFIED INFORMATION- The term `classified information' means the following:
`(A) Any information or material that has been determined by the United States Government pursuant to statute, Executive order, or regulation to require protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national security.
`(B) Any restricted data, as that term is defined in section 11 y. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014(y)).

`(3) LAWFUL ENEMY COMBATANT- The term `lawful enemy combatant' means an individual who is--

`(A) a member of the regular forces of a State party engaged in hostilities against the United States;

`(B) a member of a militia, volunteer corps, or organized resistance movement belonging to a State party engaged in such hostilities, which are under responsible command, wear a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance, carry their arms openly, and abide by the law of war; or

`(C) a member of a regular armed force who professes allegiance to a government engaged in such hostilities, but not recognized by the United States.

`(4) UNLAWFUL ENEMY COMBATANT- The term `unlawful enemy combatant' means an individual engaged in hostilities against the United States who is not a lawful enemy combatant.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. That is frustratingly vague

It's true then, anyone that they wish to call an enemy combatant could be so decreed.

[tbyg52]

25. Absolutely

In other words, they got exactly what they wanted, and are palming it off as a "compromise."

So what else is new......

The only chance to stop this madness is to take over the House and/or the Senate. Calling representatives and writing letters to the editor does no good at all, except to get the word out to the other peons. The cabal has no interest in the people or what they think.

[warrens]

19. All I got to say is

Two words: Buy guns.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

21. Two more

And ammunition.

[woodsprite]

22. Anybody but Barney and Laura. n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

23. Anybody on the Frat Boy's shit list

Any other questions?

[Liberal_Dog]

24. It's Whatever Bu$h Says It Is

eom

[paparush]

27. What's the saying -"Everything Hitler did was *legal* "

I think we're there...