Abdul Amir Younes Hussein Not Charged

Abdul Amir Younes Hussein Not Charged 5 Months Later

Arianna Huffington explores the case of CBS cameraman Abdul Amir Younes Hussein, who was detained by the US military after a car bombing in Mosul over 5 months ago. The US military maintains that he had a connection to the guerrilla movement. That may or may not be, but we cannot know unless he is charged, indicted and tried. The Pentagon is refusing to bring him to any kind of trial or even reveal the charges against him. He was briefly turned over to an Iraqi court, which did not find enough evidence to prosecute him. But then the US military reasserted its jurisdiction over him.

The severe weakening of the Bill of Rights under the Bush administration is a more fateful policy than the Iraq War or dealing with the hurricanes. The Republic can survive those disasters. The Republic cannot survive if its very foundation, the Constitution, is undermined. Bush has been kicking the pillars out from under it assiduously for nearly 5 years now, and soon nothing will be left but the imperial presidency. Even if Hussein is not a US citizen, it is un-American to hold him forever with no formal charges or trial.