Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

[sharon sanders]

Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad
Robert Johnson | Nov. 28, 2011, 10:57 AM


Either Monday or Tuesday the Senate will vote on a bill that allows the US military to imprison civilians with no formal charges and hold them with no trial.

The ACLU reports even US citizens wouldn't be immune as the legislation aims to declare national territory part of the "battlefield" in the War on Terror.

Termed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and drafted behind closed doors by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) the NDAA would:


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/secre...#ixzz1f1VvCI8j

[Emily]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

the legislation aims to declare national territory part of the "battlefield" in the War on Terror.

Now they are coming for us.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article....uleId=10007392

Martin Niem?ller was a prominent Protestant pastor who opposed the Nazi regime. He spent the last 7 years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. Germany, 1937.

Niem?ller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

If they build it, someone will abuse it.....eventually.

.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

I feel like I am living in some alternative universe.

What is happening to us?

It seems for every step forward, like in the copyright/censure battle, we take 2 steps backward like this proposal to indefinitely incarcerate people without a trial. Isn't that against the US constitution?

We must be vocal on this issue.

I am sick about this. It is a stone in my heart as I fear we are progressing down a terrible path.

Why do we think it is "normal" to be physically assaulted by security officers to take a plane flight?

What will we next think is "normal"........

.......All faithful believers in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have to wear a yellow arm band?

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

[Emily]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

I was surprised and encouraged to see that President Obama is opposed to the detention clause in the Defense bill. He said he would veto the Defense bill if they don't take it out. This will get very political since he'll be accused of hanging up the whole Defense bill. (And it is a whopper.)

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.1867:

Saw very bad news that the Senate has rejected the attempt to take the detainment provision out:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...V9N_story.html

By Associated Press, Tuesday, November 29, 12:16 PM

WASHINGTON ? The Senate on Tuesday rejected an effort to strip divisive provisions from a defense bill that deal with the capture and handling of suspected terrorists, setting up a showdown with the White House.

The resounding 60-38 vote sent a strong message to the Obama administration...

Here is a link to the part of the bill pertaining to military detention:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/...tIEej:e462417:

According to the ACLU, while the mandatory detention section exempts U.S. citizens, (Sec. 1032), section 1031 allowing detention at the discretion of the executive branch does not.

SEC. 1031. AFFIRMATION OF AUTHORITY OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES TO DETAIN COVERED PERSONS PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE.

(a) In General- Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending disposition under the law of war.

(b) Covered Persons- A covered person under this section is any person as follows:

(1) A person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored those responsible for those attacks.

(2) A person who was a part of or substantially supported ********, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

(c) Disposition Under Law of War- The disposition of a person under the law of war as described in subsection (a) may include the following:

(1) Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

(2) Trial under chapter 47A of title 10, United States Code (as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2009 (title XVIII of Public Law 111-84)).

(3) Transfer for trial by an alternative court or competent tribunal having lawful jurisdiction.

(4) Transfer to the custody or control of the person's country of origin, any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity.

(d) Construction- Nothing in this section is intended to limit or expand the authority of the President or the scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

(e) Requirement for Briefings of Congress- The Secretary of Defense shall regularly brief Congress regarding the application of the authority described in this section, including the organizations, entities, and individuals considered to be `covered persons' for purposes of subsection (b)(2).

There are a lot of weasel words in part 2 of the 'covered person' definition, allowing broad discretion in its application. Even if the intent of the application of this power is good, locking suspected US citizens up without due process is effectively setting up an executive branch/military dictatorship. This 'war on terrorism' has been going on for 10 years now, and there is no end in sight and the people in the government who have declared this action to be a war rather than a criminal justice operation are the same group proposing codifying into law the loss of due process put in place during the shock and confusion after 9/11.

Revolutions can be executed and dictatorships can be put in place non-violently. For example, Gaddafi accomplished a bloodless coup decades ago by simply taking over Libya's news outlet. Once someone has this kind of power, it becomes entrenched.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

I think it is some kind of political game knowing that Obama has said he will veto this bill if the detention provisions remain as is.

It is a travesty that certain Senators would use our freedom to score a perceived political gain, no matter who the President is, or what the freedom is. As far as I am concerned, they are breaking the oath they took when they accepted the job. They are supposed to defend the constitution.

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

We can not be silent on this issue.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

| 12/05/2011 @ 9:48PM |215,915 views
The National Defense Authorization Act is the Greatest Threat to Civil Liberties Americans Face


E.D. Kain, Contributor

snip

If Obama does one thing for the remainder of his presidency let it be a veto of the National Defense Authorization Act – a law recently passed by the Senate which would place domestic terror investigations and interrogations into the hands of the military and which would open the door for trial-free, indefinite detention of anyone, including American citizens, so long as the government calls them terrorists.

So much for innocent until proven guilty. So much for limited government. What Americans are now facing is quite literally the end of the line. We will either uphold the freedoms baked into our Constitutional Republic, or we will scrap the entire project in the name of security as we wage, endlessly, this futile, costly, and ultimately self-defeating War on Terror.

more...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/12/05/the-national-defense-authorization-act-is-the-greatest-threat-to-civil-liberties-americans-face/

[sharon sanders]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

National Defense Authorization Act spurs uprising from left and right on detainee provisions

By Alex Leary, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Thursday, December 8, 2011

WASHINGTON ? In Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio has been attacked as a "traitor." In Arizona, tea party members protested against Sen. John McCain. In Utah, Occupy demonstrators donned black hoods to stand against "radical and uncalled for constraints on our constitutional rights."

The uprising is directed at provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, approved by the Senate last week, that would require the military to arrest terrorist suspects in the United States and detain them indefinitely without trial.

more...

http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/war/national-defense-authorization-act-spurs-uprising-from-left-and-right-on/1205269

[sharon sanders]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

from here:

Amnesty International echoed many of the same sentiments, taking issue in particular with the vague language in the bill that says that a U.S. citizen can be killed on U.S. soil by the military if they “believe” that person to be a “terrorist” affiliated with Al Queda or its allies.

“The key word in that last sentence in ‘believes,’” Amnesty wrote on its website.

“In the past ten years ouf intelligence hasn’t been that good...The threshold for what is considered terrorist activity by the U.S. government – and thus can be engaged militarily – is also somewhat lower than you might imagine. The new Authorization for the Use of Military Force pegs that threshold at providing ‘substantial support’ to Al Qaeda and its allies.

Such support can be charged in surprising cases, Amnesty argues.

“In the past ten years the ‘substantial support’ test has encompassed buying rain gear, allowing a suspect to make a call on a personal cellphone and writing an opinion piece critical of the U.S. government for the liberal British newspaper, The Guardian,” the organization wrote on its website.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

from http://blog.amnestyusa.org/waronterr...ces-of-reason/

snip

Ten years after 9-11, with Osama Bin Laden safely ensconced at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, is it really time to give unlimited power to Washington to imprison American citizens? The threat still exists and is constantly morphing, but that is a reason for more debate and caution not less. Senator Paul said it best when he stated:

?If you allow the unlimited power to detain citizens without a jury trial, you are exposing yourself to the whims of those in power. That is a dangerous game.?


more at above link.....

[Emily]

Re: Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad - Unconstitutional & Against Human Rights

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...0,324348.story

Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front
Unmanned aircraft from an Air Force base in North Dakota help local police with surveillance, raising questions that trouble privacy advocates.
By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau
December 10, 2011, 6:12 p.m.