Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
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 AllThis is the oligarchy's bill, aimed directly at occupiers. Martial law is as close as the next Republican Administration aided by Republicans posing as conservative Democrats
Marshal Law is here. democrat ? republican ? irrelevant distinction.
Im guessing it ( unlimitred police/military power ) will be used to quickly silence this little occupy mess as soon as the election theater wraps up next fall.
agreed, regardless of the party in power they both represent the same people, the rich.
The Democrats had plenty of opportunities to restore due process and never even attempted to.
Raydelcamino is dead right. On civil liberties issues even remotely connectable to the endless global war on terrorist evildoers, the Obama administration punted on first down.
The 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
Mr. Bill and Mr. Ray are correct. The easy way is to look at how many are in jail from the Bush/Cheney political era, from the financial criminality of 2005-2009 and the continuing financial criminality under Obama. It won't take long to count. None.
If Corzine was unemployed, undereducated and had stolen a hundered dollars to feed his family he would be in jail. Where is he now?
Bill,
You are totally correct.
Obama has shown himself to be a traitor, along with the rest of that bunch in Congress. The TRAITOR is just another smooth talking windbag full of hot air. His intention all along was to seduce us with his beautiful, flowery speech, while he stabbed us in the back again and again.
While i weep for my beautiful America with all of its' dreams and promises to be the one safe refuge from a world in turmoil, I am also thinking. This country is chock-full of brilliant minds. I have a strong feeling that the 1% who are busy changing 'laws' to suit themseves are going to be in for a tremendous shock. One that will wipe away their smug looks.
"Martial law is as close as the next Republican Administration aided by Republicans posing as conservative Democrats"
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'm seeing some heavy denial coming from you eze. I'm not really surprised, since you still have that blind faith in the Democratic Party. This horrible act was a bipartisan effort. Levin, a "progressive Democrat", co-sponsored this bill. The Democrats supported this just as much as the Republicans did.
In the article published here today, Ralph Nader characterized Levin as a leader of the "renegade Democrats" supporting this legislation.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?
Let us remember we are the 99%. We are democrat and republican. We are independent and unaffiliated. We are voter and none voter. We are the people. Washington does not represent We the People. Washington represents the 1%. If it wasn't clear before the passage of this bill, they just made it crystal clear. The world's largest military force, owned and controlled by the 1%, can now be deployed to fire upon, arrest, and detain We the People of the USA in our own country.
i'd tell the house to suck a fuck except i'm scared of being arrested. i wonder if they'll serve boca or morningstar in the FEMA camps...
Is this the hope and change we voted for? Hell, might as well have voted for McCain.
If McCain were president the Occupy movement would be much larger. This is a hint to whom the ruling class wants for president in 2012 and why the GOP presidential contenders are so wacky.
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.)
Yes, you've got it right. Obama is their (1%) man and probably has been at least since his Harvard days. He was a community organizer, I mean private/public partnership organizer for a reason and he is president for a reason that has nothing to do with the welfare of the 99%. Trojan Horse comes to mind. As you point out, the weakness demonstrated in the GOP primary circus is all too telling and not accidental.
All of you Obamabots out there, "Bury the rag deep in your face, now is the time for your tears".
Tony Vodvarka
Bob Dylan.
This is just in time for the recent activation of the FEMA camps. At the same time, US armed forces publications have been publishing want ads for recruits to work in "civilian internment" and "relocation."
Welcome to the Fourth Reich, kiddies.
Read Dr. Britt's list carefully. Think about the Constitution we used to have in this country. Think about the Military Tribunals, the misnamed and unconstitutional Patriot Act and its descendants. Remember habeas corpus and Posse Comitatus. Think on the KBR no-bid concentration camps that were built while we were still being Bushwhacked. They have been carefully maintained for a decade awaiting "guests."
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.
Thanks for your informative post minitrue.
It’s starting to look like Winston Smith didn’t have it so bad after all, now that our last remaining crumb of humanity is being sealed in a tin can. And poor old King John, pressured by his burghers, barons and serfs to moisten the seal on The Magna Carta with his own lips. And own his own personal copy to display in his palace in the sun. Had he the foresight to mortgage is life 800 years into the future, he would have acquired the tools he needed at his local 7/11 (what’s that they say about your tools shaping what you make?) to secure his place in history as the father of social engineering. And the windfall for us is obvious: we being a nation inured to imitation would have most certainly invented a similar Manifesto; and with our copyright laws ($$ royalties $$)…might even save capitalism.
Yes; And 'We The People' "must" realize and remember that 9-11 was this Fourth Reich's Reichstag Fire. Congress then caved in and affirmed THE MILITARY / M.I.C. chiefs the POWER to define, label and treat anyone as a Terrorist, with no Due Process of Law nor any Checks and Balances our Democracy is SUPPOSED to be based upon BUT NOW ISN'T, regardless that the M.I.C. increasingly became the planet's biggest and baddest terrorist organization after WWII, and surely designed and implemented the events of 9-11.
With their power to define anyone as a terrorist, anyone including U.S. Citizens on U.S. soil can become subject to and imprisoned by the M.I.C.'s / fascist Amairka Inc's Fourth Reich without Due Process of Law, no Checks and Balances, no accountability, not even Habeas Corpus nor Posse Comitatus the military services at-large currently have to abide by IF / WHEN they abide by law.
This Fourth Reich has already shown that they will kidnap even innocent people for Rendition and even torture, simply by the vaguest association which the Reich can also assign or invent at will.
Thus U.S. civilians and patriots protection from the M.I.C. / Amairka Inc / Fourth Reich is thrown into the sh_t wallow these imperial idiots and pigs thrive on. We can look to the M.I.C. attack on Veterans 'Occupy Washington' after WWI, and to Vietnam / Laos, Afghanistan, Iraq, Waco, Olkahoma City, Kuwait / Iraq's 'Highway to Hell' and 9-11 to rather accurately surmise how this Fourth Reich would want to trick matters and treat U.S. Citizens effectively resisting them.
It's time for as Henry Wallace called Pax Democratica or "the people's century." This madness has gone on too long and way too far for any sane person to even fathom it in the least.
Quel surprise!
YUP!
Not to be pedantic, Brian, but that should be written "quelle surprise."
La surprise. "Surprise" is, of course, feminine.
Are you against unfettered and unregulated capitalism and corparate power ?
Congratulations ! You just earned "enemy combatant" status ! Please stay right where you are ! We'll be sending representatives over to bring you your prize !
Obama was not a likely candidate to veto the bill. He has already claimed the right to kill any one of us at his whim.
It's amusing how he always does the little "I'm gonna assert myself" dance .... and then caves. Or appears to. It was just a little dance after all. Like an easy date - "No, no, no, n...okay."
You guys are misunderstanding the threat to veto. It was never on civil liberties grounds that he objected to the legislation, but because it "tied the hands" of his administration. He got what he wanted, and withdrew the threat.
Yup ... the idea that President Borat the Courageous and Steadfast defender of civil liberties was going to step in and veto this bill because it clearly violates the constitution .... is ludicrous.
Anyone know where that idea originated?
I think it was a combination of journalistic/editorial laziness and the wishful thinking of the human rights/civil liberties community. 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.
Obama got the bill more hardened. Here's a quote from
http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-detention-defense-levin-635/
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.”
And Levin complied? And all those Senate Armed on the Committee complied?
Obama blames Levin. Levin blames Obama.
What a dangerous and disgusting pack of barking phonies. Who could respect them, much less vote for them? Just awful!
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.
I never doubted for a minute Obama and the Democrats would cave on this as they have on everything else. I won't vote for any of them again next year. Obama lost my vote when he took the health care public option off the table.
O doesn't cave or capitulate ... he collaborates.
Nailed it.
BO doesn't cave, he does the same thing he did to get elected....he cons the sheeple.
I don't think we necessarily have to wait for a Repug administration. If anyone actually reads this board that supports this sort of move I think the problem can be summarized as one of trust. We are supposed to have the rule of law with trials and evidence to decide criminal cases. Indefinite detention of "terrorists" means that we are supposed to trust in the government's good judgement of what is a "terrorist". I'm not willing to trust that -- not that I am being consulted. We will soon see acts of patriotism such as the Occupy movement or Keystone Pipeline disruption treated as domestic terrorism. Almost as bad or worse than the indefinite detention however is the default assumption that the military will handle such matters domestically. We have rarely if ever (Katrina maybe) deployed our military domestically. But this bill assumes "terrorism" to be the domain of the military except when the president issues an exception. We just lost local police handling of domestic "terrorism" matters.
To look to the positive; open Rebellion is close. A long struggle with much suffering, as the fascist police state tightens the screws. But the sleeping giant- the People are awakening.
Viva La Revolucion !
It's getting closer,
but too many are too comfortable and too numb.
Hunger will be the catalyst.
>>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.
zagone -
Very insightful post, particularly the part about "the default assumption that the military will handle such matters domestically."
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
It's as plain as day and the good citizens go shopping.
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.
No surprise here. Its all in the script or the manifesto if you prefer. "How to lie yourself into a position of power."
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.
Your point here is critically important. Once Habeas Corpus can be suspended for the vaguest of reasons then so can constitutional requirements for search etc etc. Thus the 'terrorists' have won, the government has reversed those rights it swore to uphold. The magnigtude of this decsion must not be underestimated. Those who think the government has too much power seem to be at teh forefont of giving it more. However perhaps there will now be less doubt as to whose side those in the highest authority are ACTUALLY on!
Yes, and the constitution cannot be modified or its provisions stricken without a vote of 2/3 of congress and ratification by 3/4 of the states. And yet, here, by legislative/executive fiat, the constitution is eviscerated.
The U.S. has become Weimar.
Go ahead, get offended. You should be. They have been running the Nazi playbook since 2000 and it is coming to fruition NOW. Martial law and the FEMA camps will come into use as more and more people come to the conclusion that they are the 99% and that our lives are not going to get better until we get rid of the oligarchy.
Who ultimately will win this? Us, of course, because there are more of us than them. When they start finding their grandkids swinging from lampposts, they will go quietly into that good night for another 80 years until they can find new ways to fuck a generation that never heard of them.