wartime powers ...

... or abuse of power?

Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri has been held for six years in a military brig in South Carolina.

While he may have been an al Qaeda sleeper agent living in America, he was living here legally when he was captured on American soil. He had not yet committed any crimes. The Bush administration claims that the president's wartime powers allow them to place legal residents such as al-Marri under military control. Others, myself included, believe that this is quite a stretch. If they can hold al-Marri indefinitely, whatever convincing evidence they have of his guilt, what will stop them from using this as a precedent to detain and imprison American citizens?