Examiner.com
I still don't like it
"""""To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.""
Other Purposes
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.
The ACLU claims that this bill will authorize the President of the US and future presidents to have the military arrest and detain indefinitely any US Citizen, even on their own property. This from the ACLU:
"The U.S. Senate is considering the unthinkable: changing detention laws to imprison people — including Americans living in the United States itself — indefinitely and without charge.
The Defense Authorization bill is now on the Senate floor with troubling provisions that would give the President — and all future presidents — the authority to indefinitely imprison people, without charge or trial, both abroad and inside the United States and would mandate military detention of some civilians who would otherwise be outside of military control. The indefinite detention without charge or trial provisions are so harmful that the Obama White House has threatened to veto the bill if they are not removed from it."
I was about to buy into all of this until I read the last sentence of the ACLU's plee to petition this bill. "
The indefinite detention without charge or trial provisions are so harmful that the Obama White House has threatened to veto the bill if they are not removed from it." This is what caused me to actually track down
the actual bill at GPO.GOV. Essentially there are two things that should let Americans know that all the hype about this bill is just another piece of propaganda. First off; when has Obama ever stood up for the rights of American citizens? He has been directly behind a plethora of bills that actually do strip Americans of their rights. The Second
Patriot Act, The
Healthcare Bill, Cap and Trade,
HR 645 the FEMA Camp Bill, The Financial Reform Bill and the
Counsel of Governors or "Martial Law Bill". The fact that the Obama Whitehouse would stand up for Americans is simply incredible.
After reading the sections under scrutiny, the only thing that should have one worried is the principle of the matter. That principle is the military operating and detaining anybody stateside; regardless of affiliation. It should be the "Other Purposes" portion of the stated intent for the bill that has the ACLU in an uproar. Just like so many other oppressive bills, the "Other Purposes" phrase is really a "
carte blanc" for the US government to do whatever they wish, whenever they wish for whatever reason they wish to do so. The fact of the matter is that George Bush actually gave the military the right to patrol and operate in the US with "
The Military Commissions Act of 2006".
Fact and Fiction
The ACLU says that US citizens are targeted by this bill.
The Bill says:
"COVERED PERSONS – The requirement in paragraph (1) shall apply to any person whose detention is authorized under section 1031 who is determined–
(A) to be a member of, or part of, al-Qaeda or an associated force that acts in coordination with or pursuant to the direction of al-Qaeda; and
(B) to have participated in the course of planning or carrying out an attack or attempted attack against the United States or its coalition partners.
(3) DISPOSITION UNDER LAW OF WAR – For purposes of this subsection, the disposition of a person under the law of war has the meaning given in section 1031(c), except that no transfer otherwise described in paragraph (4) of that section shall be made unless consistent with the requirements of section 1033.
(4) WAIVER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY – The Secretary of Defense may, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, waive the requirement of paragraph (1) if the Secretary submits to Congress a certification in writing that such a waiver is in the national security of the United States.
(b) Applicability to United States Citizens and Lawful Resident Aliens -
(1) UNITED STATES CITIZENS – The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States.
(2) LAWFUL RESIDENT ALIENS – The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to a lawful resident alien of the United States on the basis of conduct taking place within the United States, except to the extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States."
Wake up America.
