this article on chinese re-education camps is a case-in-point of why i find the bush administration's decision to create an extra-judicial system so frightening.
i'm not saying that the bush administration's "unlawful combatant" designation has as widely abused as the chinese re-education system is, but just by giving the government the option of evading things like the presumption of innocence and the right to defend one's self against the government's charges. opens it up to abuse. the chinese re-education camps were opened in the 50s to address people who were viewed as a threat to the state. but now they are used to detain pretty much anyone who the local prosecutor doesn't think he has enough evidence to charge with a crime or anyone who the powers-that-be view as a political threat.
just to be clear once again, i do not think the chinese re-education camps and "unlawful combatant" status in the u.s. are exactly the same. but there are parallels. and because of the intense secrecy surrounding the UC's detention, we really have no way of knowing the extent to which whether the UC designation is being abused. in any such system, with no outside accountability and absolute discretion, is simply a recipe for abuse.
