Watch Those Executive Orders
Comment Watch Those Executive Orders George W Bush is churning out executive orders and Presidential directives just as fast as Dick Cheney's lawyers can fill up their yellow legal pads. The power...
...These actions need not be violent ones...
...citizens...
...The power they all are asserting—no, grabbing—with these executive orders and directives is astonishing...
...In a May 9 document entitled "National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51" and "Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20," Bush lays out his plans for dealing with a "catastrophic emergency...
...The ACLU, which was not alarmed about the May 9 document, is concerned about this one...
...This order gives the Secretary of the Treasury the authority to freeze the assets of any person opposing Bush's Iraq policy who may have committed an act of violence, or anyone who even poses "a significant risk of committing" such an act...
...Matthew Rothschild...
...Any person who even is "purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly," someone whose property has been frozen by this order will also have his or her property frozen...
...He entrusts himself with leading the entire federal government, not just the Executive Branch...
...And your assets are grass if you "assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support" for others committing such acts...
...No problem: Bush writes in his executive order that such humanitarian aid would, in fact, "seriously impair my ability to deal with the national emergency...
...It is a strangely undemocratic way to go about bringing democracy to the rest of the world...
...This could mean another 9/11, or another Katrina, or a major earthquake in California, since the directive says it would include "localized acts of nature, accidents, and technological or attack-related emergencies...
...It defines a "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S...
...On July 17, Bush issued an executive order entitled "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq...
...In fact, this one is even more sweeping...
...Declaring another "national emergency," Bush announced that Syrian acts of meddling in Lebanon "constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States...
...Such power imperils our liberties and mocks our democratic system of government...
...But this executive order is worded so loosely that it applies to "any person...
...The Secretary of the Treasury might be able to put a freeze on your financial assets, including your home: If you are at an anti-Iraq War protest and the Treasury Secretary asserts that you "pose a significant risk" of breaking a window...
...Such donations are not supposed to be banned under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act except under a few unusual circumstances, including when the President determines that they would "seriously impair" his ability to handle a national emergency...
...The ACLU also objects to a provision in the order that allows the Secretary of the Treasury to ban even donations of "food, clothing, and medicine, intended to be used to relieve human suffering...
...The document is entitled "National Continuity Policy...
...Or if you set up a speaking engagement for, or buy lunch for, an Iraqi oil worker who might have damaged a pipeline or burned an American flag to protest the oil bill that Bush wants the Iraqi parliament to pass—a bill that would give away that country's oil to ExxonMobil and other multinationals...
...And he gives himself the responsibility "for ensuring constitutional government...
...This order is entitled, "Blocking Property of Persons Undermining the Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes and Institutions...
...So the Treasury Secretary could freeze your brother's house on the specious grounds that your brother might be violent at an anti-war protest, and if you hire a lawyer to help your brother with his case, both you and the lawyer you hire could have your financial assets, including your homes, frozen...
...But it says flat out: "The President shall lead the activities of the federal government for ensuring constitutional government...
...Representative Dennis Kucinich denounced this executive order as "reckless...
...The International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which Bush cites as the authority for such an order, is intended to apply to foreign countries and foreign nationals, not to U.S...
...His order allows the Secretary of the Treasury to freeze the assets of any person who has taken, or who poses "a significant risk of taking," actions that "have the purpose or effect of undermining Lebanon's democratic processes or institutions, contributing to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon, supporting the reassertion of Syrian control or otherwise contributing to Syrian interference in Lebanon, or infringing upon or undermining Lebanese sovereignty...
...He said it was part of Bush's "strategy to destabilize the region by targeting Syria and Iran...
...What's more, the language in this executive order could create an endless chain of repression...
...This executive order is harsher than the July 17 one in another way, as well...
...population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions...
...On August 1, Bush issued a similar executive order, this time relating to Lebanon...
...The document emphasizes the need to ensure "the continued function of our form of government under the Constitution, including the functioning of the three separate branches of government...
...Or if you throw a pie in the face of a legislator— say, Senator Joe Lieberman—as a way of drawing attention to his support for the war...
...A person may find herself inadvertently in violation of this order, and there is no provision for judicial review...
...And it says that "any transaction by a United States person" who "attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited...
...This executive order reaches far beyond criminal activity to activity that may be entirely innocent," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU national security project...
...Given Bush's demonstrated disdain for the Constitution, this is not a cheery prospect...
...Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild, calls the entire directive an "unconstitutional bombshell...
...But this effort will be "coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers...
...The document provides a role for the Vice President...
...You've got to wonder what's in there...
...It gives the Treasury Secretary the authority to freeze the assets of "a spouse or dependent child of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order...
...So what could this mean in practice...
...or (B) undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people...
...The document also contains "classified Continuity Annexes...
...Let's look at three recent ones...
...Like the executive order on Iraq, this one also bans the provision of food, clothing, and medicine to anyone whose assets are frozen...
...All are proscribed—violent and nonviolent alike...
...It also is part of Bush's strategy to aggrandize the Executive Branch...
...The document waves at the need to work closely with the other two branches, saying there will be "a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government...
...This directive shall be implemented . . . with the consultation of the Vice President and, as appropriate, others involved...
...The acts that are now verboten would have "the purpose or effect of: (A) threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq...
Vol. 71 • September 2007 • No. 9
