More on Americans held for weeks without charges

Only because Mike Hawah is rich and has influential friends are we hearing about this case. This has happened to others who the government is simply "disappearing" while they take weeks, months, or even years to decide even if to charge them. This is unconstitutional, but this administration has no respect for the law.

Even the conservative but libertarian CATO Institute called the earlier Jose Padilla's treatment a dangerous precedent and unconstitutional. Jose Padilla was a street thug from Chicago who decided he wanted to join a bigger gang and so he went to al-Queda and learned how to make bombs. He was properly immediated detained upon coming back but has not been charged or allowed communication, including a lawyer, with the outside world since.

Meanwhile, Zacarias Moussaoui, purportedly the 20th hijacker, is not a U.S. citizen. Neither is Richard Reid, the alleged shoe bomber. Both have attorneys. Both have been charged before federal civilian courts.

They have given more rights to non-citizen terrorists than U.S. citizens who are "suspected" terrorists.

"In a nutshell, we cannot permit the executive branch to declare unilaterally that a U.S. citizen may be characterized as an enemy combatant, whisked away, detained indefinitely without charges, denied legal counsel, and prevented from arguing to a judge that he is wholly innocent." - CATO Institute

Padilla has now been held without charges, without any contact with the outside world, for 366 days.

So Free Mike Hawah and support Warblogging.com which has been drawing attention to both of these stories.