According to the New York Times, in June 2005, two senior national security officials in the Bush administration proposed a new approach to the growing problems the United States were facing with the detention, interrogation and prosecution of terrorism suspects.

They called for a return to the minimum standards of treatment specified in the Geneva Conventions Article III.

A bill passed last week by the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate abandons this recommendation and grants the President of the United States extraordinary powers for detaining and punishing terror suspects, this from a country that has boasted the rule of law for the last 217 years.

British author Robert Harris equates the U.S. bill to an ancient Roman surrender of power to Pompey the Great. The Roman surrender was in response to the panic that followed a daring terrorist attack on the Roman Port of Ostia.

“Pompey was given supreme naval command and what amounted to uncontrolled power over everyone. He eventually took control of almost the entire contents of the Roman Treasury - 144 million sesterces - to pay for his "war on terror," which included building a fleet of 500 ships and raising an army of 120,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry”.

Those of us not American can only wonder at the ease with which the rights and liberties of individuals have been surrendered in the United States since 9/11.

The vote by the U.S. Senate to suspend “habeas corpus” for terrorism detainees,

• denies them the right to challenge their detention in court;
• the careful wording in the bill about torture, which forbids only the inducement of "serious" physical and mental suffering to obtain information;
• the admissibility of evidence obtained in the United States without a search warrant;
• the licensing of the President to declare a legal resident of the United States an enemy combatant

- all this represents a major shift in the balance of power between citizens and their government.

In the lead up to passage of this “Detainee” bill, there was resistance from the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia. There was resistance from Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, a presidential hopeful who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and there was resistance from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, an Air Force Colonel who spent some 20 years as a military lawyer and judge.

Their resistance was bolstered by former Secretary of State Colin Powell who wrote that he feared American treatment of detainees threatened to undermine America's position of moral leadership in the world.

They all caved in the face of pressure from the Bush Administration. Colin Powell went silent. The three Republican Senators crafted an alternative bill that gave the President virtually everything he asked for.

How could John McCain, a victim of torture, sacrifice his principles for the Bush torture legislation?

He wasn’t alone, a majority of House and Senate members, including some Democrats, caved in lockstep as they looked with fear at the upcoming mid-term elections and the threat of being labeled "soft on terror."

The “Detainee” bill goes way beyond law as we know it in civilized society.

Consider that a U.S. President, an individual human being has been given the legal right to permanently remove a person from society. All he has to do is declare him or her “an enemy combatant”.

Could there be any greater loss of liberty or freedom than the threat of permanent incarceration?

Have the Americans traded their democracy for a war-mongering dictatorship? Surely a society that authorizes its leader to inflict torture and unlawful imprisonment has surrendered its democracy and freedom.

How absurd that a U.S. President boasts of spreading democracy in the Middle East, while removing the pillars of democracy in his own country.

What kind of a democracy would turn its back on a lawful and entrenched constitution to eliminate “habeas corpus” i.e. the right to defend against illegal imprisonment?

What kind of a democracy would allow its president to lock someone up for the rest of his life without a trial?

What kind of a democracy would allow evidence obtained by torture to be used in court or to be used to justify the lockup of another individual?

The United States of America has embarked on a course of action that could easily be ascribed to the Nazis of World War II. The Geneva Convention’s Article III (to which the United States is a signatory) on the treatment of captured prisoners is quite clear and specific: no country is permitted to use "cruel" treatment or "outrages” upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment" on prisoners in its care.

Where is the United Nations on this subject?

Where are the British and the French?

Where is the Government of Canada?

Does anybody care that the world’s most powerful country has formally dispensed with the rule of law?

Are there no leaders in the United States with the backbone to take on the Bush Administration?

Where is the spine in the American people?

Surely they will use the November 7th mid-term elections to do what their legislators could not - stop Bush in his tracks.

In ancient Rome, “panic” dismissed dissenting voices as "soft" or "traitorous". Power was ceded by the people of Rome to Pompey the Great. It would be lost for more than 1,800 years. Let us hope reaction to the terrorism of 9/11 does not lead to the same result.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if the Republicans should lose control of Congress and the Senate, not because of their torture legislation but because of an investigation into the unfolding ‘Page’ sex scandal involving former Republican Representative Mark Foley?

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com Atlantic Insight is a published Blog inventory of opinion articles published weekly in New Brunswick's print media as written by W.E. (Bill) Belliveau, who is a resident of Shediac, New Brunswick, and small business owner, operating his Moncton-based marketing consultancy, Bell Strategic. He can be reached by e-mail at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com