What was that executive order?

Dubya recently proclaimed a new law, and here's the official order. But what does it mean?

On the surface, it means that if the President decides that someone is "undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people", then they can have all of their stuff taken away. So, in the bad-guy case, if someone tries to kill Iraqi politicians or blow up Iraqi government buildings, the Executive Branch of the US Government can legally seize all of their property.


But, this does not just apply to actions taken in Iraq. If a US citizen runs for the office of President, and part of their platform is to redeploy the troops so they're not in the middle of a civil war, that person can have all of their belongings and campaign funding taken away - at the whim of the current President. That last point is an important part of this equation. There does not have to be any evidence of wrongdoing, any public statement of what happened, or any legal proceedings - this can all be done on a whim with no oversight, and no knowledge of the public.


It also makes it completely legal for the Executive branch to seize your house, car, furniture, and everything you own - if you were to put up a lawn sign saying "no war in my name". Or if you were to push out a blog post explaining this Executive Order down the tubes of the internets.

While these two scenarios have not been played out as far as we know, is there any reason the President has to declare a law making this "legal"? We already know this Administration views itself as beyond the law, was caught calling the Constitution a "goddamned piece of paper", will mandate policy based on political goals even when highly detrimental to the country, and has no qualms about lying to the American public. So why would they put such a law onto the books? You tell me...

See also Wonkette and BoingBoing.