Bill Allows Military to Imprison US Citizens without trial

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Bill Allows Military to Imprison US Citizens without trial

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http://rt.com/usa/news/senate-mccain-ba ... raham-429/
America is opening up a new warfront and it’s in your own backyard. It’s in your neighbor’s house, it’s three states over and it’s on the other side of the Mississippi.

That’s what a new legislation could lead to and the consequences are dire and constitutionally damning.

The United States Senate is set to vote this week on a bill that would categorize the entire USA as a “battlefield,” allowing law enforcement duties to be dished out by the American Military, who in turn could detain any US citizen as a war criminal — even coming into their own homes to issue arrests.

The National Defense Authorization Act regularly comes before Congress for changes and additions, but the latest provision, S. 1867, proves to be the most powerful one yet in raping constitutional freedoms from Americans. Move over, Patriot Act. Should S. 1867 pass, lawmakers could conjure the text to keep even regular citizens detained indefinitely by their own military.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a supporter of the bill, has explicitly stated that the passing of S. 1867 would “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield” and could lead to the detention of citizens without charge or trial, writes Chris Anders of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington office.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H) sits on the same side of the aisle and agrees wholeheartedly. “America is part of the battlefield,” says the lawmaker.
America’s Military is already operating in roughly 200 countries, dishing out detention and executions to citizens of other nations. As unrest erupts on the country’s own soil amid a recession, economic collapse and protests in hundreds of cities from coast-to-coast, is it that much of a surprise that lawmakers finally want to declare the US a warzone?
Maybe not, but if the Senate has their way, the consequential could be detrimental to the US Constitution.

“The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president — and every future president — the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world,” adds Anders. “The power is so broad that even US citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself.”
“American citizens and people picked up on American or Canadian or British streets being sent to military prisons indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. Really? Does anyone think this is a good idea? And why now?” asks Anders.

Just like its supporters, the provision has attracted its share of critics as well. The Obama administration has threatened to veto the bill if it makes its way through Congress, but given the president’s poor standing among the American public (his disapproval rating is at its highest ever in recent polling), a hawkish Republican could usurp Obama as commander-in-chief as the 2012 election is less than a year away and the unemployment level stays stagnant and sad. With the exception of Congressman Ron Paul, the frontrunners currently vying for the Republican Party’s nomination for the presidency have remained outspoken in their support for not just increasing American military presence overseas at a time when the Pentagon’s budget dwarfs many governmental sectors, but in adding provisions to the Patriot Act itself to further remove freedoms from the people.

During last week’s GOP debate televised on CNN, former House speaker Newt Gingrich said that the country must “try to find that balancing act between our individual liberties and security.” That same night, pizzaman Herman Cain said suspected terrorists should be killed before identified and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum suggested that Muslims should be profiled by the American government because, “obviously,” they are the group “that are most likely to be committing these crimes,” speaking broadly of his assumption of those that construct terrorist attacks.

“I have a personal belief that you never have to give up liberty for security. You can still provide security without sacrificing our Bill of Rights,” responded Rep. Paul. “You can prevent crimes by becoming a police state . . . So if you advocate the police state, yes, you can have safety and security and you might prevent a crime, but the crime then will be against the American people and against our freedoms.”

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) has already aligned himself as an opponent of the legislation, but needs to garner the backing of others if he wants to keep Congress from enacting the provision. “One section of these provisions, section 1031, would be interpreted as allowing the military to capture and indefinitely detain American citizens on US soil,” the Senator said in a speech last month. “Section 1031 essentially repeals the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 by authorizing the US military to perform law enforcement functions on American soil. That alone should alarm my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but there are other problems with these provisions that must be resolved.”

Udall isn’t the only one on Capitol Hill that has seen a problem with the provision, which was developed under shady circumstances. The text itself was drafted in secrecy in a closed-door meeting by US Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, two of the biggest names in Washington. No hearing was held to discuss the details and it was passed in a closed-door committee meeting, reports Infowar’s Paul Joseph Watson.

Watson continues to conjure up a list of characteristics that the Department of Homeland Security have identified as traits of domestic terrorism, calling into question past maneuvers from the government that led to those owning guns, buying gold and even donating to charity being considered America’s enemy. At last week’s debate, Ron Paul added that “It’s anybody associated with organizations, which means almost anybody can be loosely associated,” referring to how the government can use its discretion — or lack thereof — to bring terrorism charges against its own people. Calling into question the recent execution of two Americans with alleged ties to Al-Qaeda, Paul added, “So, that makes all Americans vulnerable, and now we know American citizens are vulnerable to assassination.”

The provision itself passed in the House all the way back in May, and only now is going before the Senate. Justin Amash, a Republican representative from Cascade Township, was one of the five House Republicans that voted against it. “It is destructive of our Constitution,” he writes on his Facebook page. It would “permit the federal government to indefinitely detain American citizens on American soil, without charge or trial, at the discretion of the president.”
Given that the passing of the provision would allow for legally lengthy and questionable detention, it becomes bizarre why Sen. McCain, a former prisoner of war, would pen such a bill. McCain was imprisoned in North Vietnam for over five years in a camp where he was detained and tortured before entering American politics.

“The president should not have the authority to determine whether the Constitution applies to you, no matter what the allegations,” adds Amash, who also writes, “Note that it does not preclude US citizens from being detained indefinitely, without charge or trial, it simply makes such detention discretionary.

“Please urge your Senators to oppose these outrageous provisions.”
As a solution, Sen. Udall has offered a counter act, being dubbed the Udall Amendment, that would keep S. 1867 from its critical consequences and would instead require lawmakers to examine the necessity of detaining citizens domestically, and instead would make Congress consider whether any detention legislation is needed at all.
In the meantime, Anders and ACLU are calling on Americans to voice their concerns to the US Senate. As political posturing keeps the country divided and the branches of government fight to find a solution to the crumbling economy, infrastructure — and now the Constitution — a solution to this problem is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the assaults on Americans that is underway.




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Fuck you Congress. FUCK YOU.
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Post by Sky Syndrome »

Thank you, Congress. As if us US citizens aren't stressed out enough already!
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Post by Goliath »

Oh, that is nothing!

Haven't you heard that under George W. Bush, the president has gotten the (blatantly unconstitutional) power to determine any US citizen an "enemy of the state" and can order his/her assassination? And haven't you heard that president Hope and Change used that (illegal) power to have a suspected terrorist (who held an American passport) murdered not too long ago?

More on this (liberal!) site: http://www.salon.com/2010/04/07/assassinations_2/
In late January, I wrote about the Obama administration’s “presidential assassination program,” whereby American citizens are targeted for killings far away from any battlefield, based exclusively on unchecked accusations by the Executive Branch that they’re involved in Terrorism. At the time, The Washington Post‘s Dana Priest had noted deep in a long article that Obama had continued Bush’s policy (which Bush never actually implemented) of having the Joint Chiefs of Staff compile “hit lists” of Americans, and Priest suggested that the American-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was on that list. The following week, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair, acknowledged in Congressional testimony that the administration reserves the “right” to carry out such assassinations.
And how many people are still being held without due process or even being told why they're being imprisoned at Guántanamo Bay?

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are right about one thing: the Obama-administration uses fascist methods. But not by giving children healthcare or wanting to raise taxes, but for the kinds of things listed above.

I don't like the word 'fascist'. When used hyperbolically, it quickly loses its meaning. But this time, I mean it. The leader of a country single-handedly being able to decide which citizen gets to live or die? That's fascism to me.
Last edited by Goliath on Thu Dec 01, 2011 3:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Super Aurora »

Yeah I know all about that crap. Still this one is another one for me to be concern about. Personally I find Congress the one having more power as they are ones to help initiate them to begin with. The whole government as a whole is corrupt in addition to high corporate owners/lobbyist who really basically manipulate the government in reality to their liken. President and Congress are just tools in process.



















































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Post by Goliath »

^ Love that picture!

And then they say Obama is a liberal... :roll:

If only...!
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Post by Super Aurora »

I believe he's moderate conservative if i recall.
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Post by milojthatch »

You hear that sound? That would be the US Constitution hanging by a thread...
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Post by Rose Dome »

That is disturbing :shock:

I won't mince my words. The U.S is no longer a democracy.
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Post by Super Aurora »

more shit on this crap. Image
The National Defense Authorization Act is being called the most traitorous act ever witnessed in the Senate, and the language of the bill is cleverly designed to make you think it doesn’t apply to Americans, but toward the end of the bill it essentially says it can apply to Americans ”if we want it to.”
Bill Summary & Status, 112th Congress (2011 – 2012) | S.1867 | Latest Title: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 | Sponsor: Sen Levin, Carl [MI] (introduced 11/15/2011) | Related Bills: H.R.1540 | Latest Major Action: 12/1/2011 Passed/agreed to in Senate. | Status: Passed Senate with amendments by Yea-Nay. 93 – 7. | Record Vote Number: 218. | Latest Action: 12/1/2011


This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a ”battleground” upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.

Even WIRED magazine was outraged at this bill, reporting:

Senate Wants the Military to Lock You Up Without Trial
…the detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn’t limited to foreigners. It’s confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas’ Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — “U.S. citizens are included in the grant of detention authority.” Source

Remote viewing

The passage of this law is nothing less than an outright declaration of WAR against the American People by the military-connected power elite. If this is signed into law, it will shred the remaining tenants of the Bill of Rights and unleash upon America a total military dictatorship, complete with secret arrests, secret prisons, unlawful interrogations, indefinite detainment without ever being charged with a crime, the torture of Americans and even the ”legitimate assassination” of U.S. citizens on right here on American soil!

If you have not yet woken up to the reality of the police state we’ve been warning you about, I hope you realize we are fast running out of time. Once this becomes law, you have no rights whatsoever in America — no due process, no First Amendment speech rights, no right to remain silent, nothing.
link: http://newsvoice.se/2011/12/02/us-senat ... tleground/


granted the article add over exaggerated sensationalism, but core of it is still bs. they say it doesn't affect us but i really don't buy that one bit.
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Post by Goliath »

Disney Geek wrote:That is disturbing :shock:

I won't mince my words. The U.S is no longer a democracy.
The US stopped being a democracy when an un-elected president was installed on January 20, 2001. Or, if you want to go even further back in time, on November 22, 1963.
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Post by Rose Dome »

^ ^ ^

Good point :oops:

Either way, I'm sick of us being America's sidekick as if we have to be :angry: We have lost so many young Men to their hopeless and unnecessary wars, and our three most recent Prime Ministers have given us a reputation for being racist yobbos by going along with it all :cry: What I wouldn't give for us to have a Prime Minister who will stand up and say "We are NOT your fifty-first state!" I envy our neighbouring New Zealanders.
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Post by Super Aurora »

Disney Geek wrote:^ ^ ^

Good point :oops:

Either way, I'm sick of us being America's sidekick as if we have to be :angry: We have lost so many young Men to their hopeless and unnecessary wars, and our three most recent Prime Ministers have given us a reputation for being racist yobbos by going along with it all :cry: What I wouldn't give for us to have a Prime Minister who will stand up and say "We are NOT your fifty-first state!" I envy our neighbouring New Zealanders.
If it makes you feel better, Australia is listed as one of the least corrupt government. You are also the country known as THE LAND OF DEATH.
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Post by milojthatch »

Disney Geek wrote:That is disturbing :shock:

I won't mince my words. The U.S is no longer a democracy.
Depending on who you ask, we were never a democracy. We were always a republic. Personally, I think we were/ are sort of both. Either way, yes, this is disturbing.
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Post by Maerj »

The gov't has made it perfectly clear that it views its citizens as the enemy as they keep legislating against us. When the shit goes down remember that it was the government that declared war on us, not the other way around.

http://undergroundanon.blogspot.com/

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/poli ... -in-canada

http://www.alternet.org/economy/153274/ ... age=entire

http://nationalmemo.com/article/fox-pol ... scares-him#


Those links are just scratching the surface. Try watching the occupy protests and see how the people have treated. Beaten, maced, tear gassed, shot at with rubber bullets, in NC the police went after protesters with assault rifles. Obviously, the emphasis on income inequality has struck a nerve. 2012 is going to be a very interesting year, as all of this is bound to escalate, as it should. The 1% have been controlling our government for too long. The 100% needs to run government, not the 1%.
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Post by ajmrowland »

i'd love to see the mainstream media bring up what happened in beijing in 1989 as a principle comparison.
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Post by Semaj »

Any nation that once hosted slavery was never a true democracy.

However, it seems only in the past decade that our basic rights are being threatened by our own government.
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Post by Goliath »

This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a ”battleground” upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.
Isn't that what the Syrian government is doing to its own citizens right now?

@ Maerj: Interesting you mention the Occupy-movement. Remember how the armed Tea Party protesters were beaten, molested, arrested and thrown in prison? No, me neither. They could show up to rallies of the president carried loaded weapons and signs calling for violence against him, and not a single one of them ever had to fear getting arrested. The crucial difference was them being protesting *against* their own economic self-interests. They were duped and organized by big corporations ('astro-turfing') into protesting legislation that would limit their power. Not a single one of them was mistreated. Yet, when other ordinary citizens start protesting against these corporations and against income inequality... the powers-that-be strike back harshly.

Jackson Brown was Keith Olbermann's show last week and he said he thought the reaction of the powers-that-be to the Occupy-movement shows they're getting scared. It's remarkable that the movement is protesting against the very same things Brown sung about two decades ago in the song 'Lives in the Balance', which is still highly relevant today:

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die


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Post by Maerj »

Replying to your post goliath concerning the OWS protests:

The KKK and the Westboro Baptist Church can protest without fear of being beaten. Just shows where the priorities are, huh? I'll reply more later!


Also, check out the last link I posted up there, its all about how OWS is sacring these people.
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Post by Goliath »

@ Maerj: You're also gonna love this commentary about OWS:

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Post by Super Aurora »

Maerj wrote:Replying to your post goliath concerning the OWS protests:

The KKK and the Westboro Baptist Church can protest without fear of being beaten. Just shows where the priorities are, huh? I'll reply more later!


Also, check out the last link I posted up there, its all about how OWS is sacring these people.
problem isn't that they're protesting but fact they are camping out in the Zuccotti park. Even some NYC residents are complaining about it. The problem with OWS is that it is an unorganized protest and it going no-where.
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