THE RULE OF DUE PROCESS OF LAW GETS OPPORTUNITY TO BE RESTORED; Designation of Enemy Combatant Status
By: Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd and Mr. Billy Sinclair
How would you feel if you had never been a member of any nation’s military, had never fought alongside any nation’s armed forces, and had never borne arms against the United States anywhere in the world but were suddenly designated an “enemy combatant” by the President of the United States, placed in solitary confinement in a military prison for five years, subjected to torture, held incommunicado from family and attorney, and never had any formal charges brought against you?
Apparently, some in the Government of the United States of America believe that the President has the constitutional authority to do precisely that to any person lawfully living in this country or even, potentially, to any American citizen.
Al Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a citizen of Omar, entered the United States on September 10, 2001. He was accompanied by his wife and children. He came to this country to pursue a master’s degree at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He had already earned a bachelor’s degree from the university in 1991.
Then the unspeakable, the unimaginable happened. Foreign-born terrorists – mostly from Saudi Arabia, a longtime American oil ally – hijacked four commercial airliners and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center’s twin towers, one into the Pentagon, and one into a field in Pennsylvania killing and injuring thousands of Americans. (more…)
