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US House Passes 'Indefinite Detention' Bill
House of Representatives approves defense bill including moves to allow terror suspects to be detained indefinitely.
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives has voted in favor of controversial proposed legislation that would deny terror suspects, including US citizens, the right to trial and permit authorities to detain them indefinitely.
The bill, said Christopher Anders of the ACLU, "Would authorize the president to order the military to capture civilians and put them in indefinite detention without charge or trial, with no limitation based on either geography or citizenship.". The proposed changes were included in a $662bn defence bill passed on Wednesday by the Republican-controlled House after White House officials withdrew a threat to block the bill over concerns it would undermine the US president's authority over counterterrorism activities.
In a statement, Jay Carney, a White House spokesman said "several important changes" had been made, which meant that presidential advisers would not recommend Barack Obama veto the bill.
The bill, which also endorsed tougher sanctions against Iran's central bank and freezing $700 million in aid to Pakistan, must still pass through the Senate, which is expected to vote on Thursday.
If approved, the bill would require the US military to take custody of terror suspects accused of involvement in plotting or committing attacks against the United States.
But in changes introduced under pressure from the White House, the bill was amended to say that the military cannot interfere with FBI and other civilian investigations and interrogations. The revisions also allow the president to sign a waiver moving a terror suspect from military to civilian prison.
Carney said the new bill "does not challenge the president's ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the American people."
'Lack of clarity'
But some officials had some objections to the clause. FBI Director Robert Mueller criticized the provision for its lack of clarity on how the changes would be implemented at the time of arrest.
The White House said that some of those concerns remained.
"While we remain concerned about the uncertainty that this law will create for our counter-terrorism professionals, the most recent changes give the president additional discretion in determining how the law will be implemented," added Carney.
But the bill has also attracted criticism from civil rights campaigners.
Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said the bill was a "big deal".
"It would authorize the president to order the military to capture civilians and put them in indefinite detention without charge or trial, with no limitation based on either geography or citizenship," he told Al Jazeera.
"The military would have the authority to imprison persons far from any battlefield, including American citizens and including people picked up in the US."
91 Comments so far
Show AllThe decision of the Justice Department not to hold anybody from the Bush/Cheney era criminally accountable for torture, for illegal warrantless electronic surveillance by NSA on American soil, or for the billions of dollars supposedly designated for reconstruction in Iraq which mysteriously vanished during Paul Bremer's term as proconsul for the US occupation forces was the first and foremost betrayal of public trust. So much for restoring respect for the rule of law.
After that, we had the White House rollover on the promise to shut down Gitmo and the military tribunal detainee trial system, renewal of the Patriot Act, and then another presidential rollover on the threat to veto the National Defense Authorization Act. Indefinite detention without trial in custody of the US military at the discretionary whim of the Oval Office is about to become the law of the land.
How shameful and depressing. Obama's election in 2008 created a unique historic window of opportunity to right some of the previous administration's most egregious wrongs, and Obama's inner circle of advisors never even made an attempt. Now, that window has slammed shut so tight it is highly unlikely it can ever be reopened.
Crime pays. Small wonder the smirks have reappeared on the faces of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in their public appearances. Through inaction and action, Barack Obama's White House team has resurrected and re-legitimized these neocon slimeballs' tattered legacy.
When due process of law is not meaningfully applied to those at the top of the government's power heirarchy, due process of law also becomes an illusion for those of us in the middle and at the bottom.
Bill from Saginaw
If Corzine was unemployed, undereducated and had stolen a hundered dollars to feed his family he would be in jail. Where is he now?
Are you kidding? This is the next Republican Administration. It has been since Mr. Obama was elected. He has been the most successful Republican in history in carrying out their agenda.
I like Nader, and know that one can't really tell what he really thinks, as opposed to when he's shrewdly or cannily employing rhetorical spin.
But even if Nader isn't also in "heavy denial", he's certainly begging the question-- in a manner reminiscent of an indulgent parent explaining to a cop or judge that their sociopathic monster of a juvenile delinquent is really a "good kid" temporarily gone astray because of Bad Influences.
Very nice point Obedient Servant. I'm neutral as far as Nader goes, but this certainly looks like he's making excuses and rationalizing. He knows better, he has to, but he's also trying to cling to whatever remote good faith he has in the so-called "liberal Democrat" faction of the Democratic Party.
With the Democrats backing the NDAA and SOPA, one has to wonder how and why some folks on this website and elsewhere continue to clench their teeth on the donkey's teet, hoping that their beloved center-right party will come through as the great savior of the left. When will this "lesser evil" been seen for what it is by the folks, or rather when will they acknowledge it as the "equal evil" that needs to be fought against?
The Democratic Party's role in US political history is too sidetrack and demobilize social movements. (See "The Democrats: A Critical History" by Lance Selfa.)
Look at the escalating police brutality in suppressing our Freedom of Speech and Freedom to Peaceably Assemble for Redress of Grievances.
Many of us have been warning about this since the "Supreme" Court cancelled the election and appointed Bush II. Now, we live in the Obamanation and this is all coming to fruition.
Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co
5-28-3
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
We are getting close to a decision here folks. Either to resist this Fourth Reich, no matter what it costs us and take our country back to once again become Citizens of the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America, or to live in servitude in the United Corporations of America, Ltd and take what crumbs the Oligarchy offers us, in silence and fear.
Anyone know where that idea originated?
Obama threatened a veto (true) and lazy journalists and lazy editors reported it as some kind of rebuke of the unconstitutionality of the NDAA (not true). Then, the human rights/civil liberties community opportunistically seized on the threat of a veto as the only hope to defeat the legislation, and they never bothered to clarify why it was that Obama was threatening a veto.
The whole thing, of course, is a farce and a charade. The government knows exactly what it is doing right now, and it has nothing to do with protecting the American people. The liberal class is just going along with it for show.
Senator Levin told Congress recently that under the original wording of the National Defense Authorization Act, American citizens were excluded from the provision that allowed for detention. Once Obama’s officials saw the text though, says Levin, “the administration asked us to remove the language which says that US citizens and lawful residents would not be subject to this section.”
Why aren't radio and television interrupting regular programming to alert citizens that the president and congress are making a stealth maneuver to subvert the constitution and move towards marshall law?
We could damn sure use a Fairness Doctrine today!
Oh wait, Obama's FCC head Genachowski wiped the Fairness Doctrine completely off the books!
Our last line of defense on the public airwaves are the supposed progressives: Hartmann, Schultz and Miller who combined speak to the largest audience of lefties each day through their radio and television shows.
Is this trio of stooges FINALLY going to draw a line in the sand and call for Obama's removal from office for attempting to declare for himself the powers of a King?
Or will they continue to place party before constitution and remain silent?
-----------------------
Whoever controls the media controls the country. Period.
but too many are too comfortable and too numb.
Hunger will be the catalyst.
Finally a tiny bit of honesty from the mainstream media today as it was reported that 146 million USAmericans are living in poverty or near poverty. 310 million. 40% living in poverty. Is this a great country or what? Well it sure is if you live in the TOP 50 PERCENT.
What is really at stake is quietly legalizing the military's ability to "disappear" people. It's never pleasant to hear a knock on the door in the middle of the night, or in broad daylight, and encounter an armed government official come to take someone away to answer a few questions. If it's a cop (Barney Fife or a wannabe Bull Connor) come to take the arrestee down to the station house or over to the local jail, there is access to lawyers and courts available. If it's a soldier whisking someone away to a military brig of some sort somewhere, good fucking luck trying to enforce any of the guarantees in the Bill of Rights.
This legislation legalizes disappearance of citizens into US military custody - unless, of course, the head of the FBI or the President of the United States personally objects on the disappeared person's behalf. Sure glad Obama included this safety valve provision so that he could sign this latest building bloc of a fascist police state into law.
Bill from Saginaw
Tis' the season and all.
In Barney's world, the keys to the cell were hanging by the door.
During the time period we were watching the show,
we were told that secreting people away was only done by bad people from evil communist countries like the USSR, East Germany, Korea and China.
The Constitution, Article I section 9 clauses 2 and 3:
The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
The law passed eliminates the Writ of Habeas Corpus and authorizes Bills of Attainder and could not possibly be more unconstitutional. The Government of the United States is a creation of the Constitution, and a government that claims any rights or charter outside the Constitution is not a legitimate government of the United States and as such has no right to the allegiance and cooperation of the American people.