Give Me Liberty: The New Americanism by Nat Hentoff

Give Me Liberty: The New Americanism by Nat Hentoff: "For the past six years, more Americans have become aware of this fragility—as some of our basic liberties continue to recede, now reaching a new, especially dangerous development in the Military Commissions Act of 2006, spawned by the Bush-Cheney administration.

Among its 'chilling' provisions, Leahy says, 'inserted [by the White House] in the dark of night in the final days before the bill's passage,' is a greatly expanded definition of 'enemy combatants.' This expansion includes 'people that any group of decision-makers selected by the President decides to call 'enemy combatants' '—and put into cells.

If these prisoners are legal noncitizen immigrants in this country, they will have no habeas corpus rights to go into court to challenge why they are being held—and they can be 'detained' indefinitely. If American citizens are declared 'enemy combatants,' they can have lawyers in our courts, but the MCA severely diminishes their rights to due process." MORE