Rome's 9/11

Just about ever since I took Latin in 9th grade, I've held the opinion that the Roman emipre is the closest analog to the United States. This article in the NY Times gives another look at an event that lead to the destruction of the Roman Republic, and the creation of the Roman Empire. This is relevant now because of the passage of the Military Commisions Act of 2006, commonly referred to as the Torture Bill. This bill allows any American to be declared an enemy combatant suspending his civil rights, based soley on the determination of the President, not a judge. Even without me worrying about this as an American citizen, I worry about this as a service member. I have a good chance of going to the Middle East in January, and the way this bill pisses all over the rights the Geneva Convention affords, makes it more justifiable for our own Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen to be denied Geneva Convention protections by other signatories.
The article compares kneejerk legislation passed after a "Terrorist" attack which burned the Roman port to the USA PATRIOT act. Both legislative acts restricted rights, gave tremendous amounts of money to fight the threat, and metaphorically took dumps on their Constitutions.