Federal Government, Seizure of Property, and Parsing an Executive Order

On Tuesday, George Bush signed an executive order that states

"all property and interests in property of the following persons, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons, are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense,

(i) to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of:

(A) threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq; or

(B) undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people;

(ii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of, such an act or acts of violence or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or

(iii) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.

It might seem fine to many because it refers to acts of violence, but look at the wording of B iii:

"or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order."

Purported to act? Last time I checked, which was a few seconds ago, purported means "commonly put forth or accepted as true on inconclusive grounds." In other words, because someone said so. Who gets to say so? The administration. And indirectly as well as directly? How indirect can you get? It's like asking how high is up: it depends on how far you want it to go.

According to an Associated Press story:

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the order targets terrorist and insurgent groups, including those assisted by Syria and Iran, that are not covered by existing authorities.

"What this is really aimed at is insurgents and those who come across the border," Snow explained.

Yes, that's why it looks to freezing US assets for groups supposedly getting their money from Syria and Iran. It's a scary time in this country, when you consider exactly what such wording would allow an administration to do. And this is an administration that has proven itself willing and able to stretch the meaning of words into whatever they want.