White House Allegedly Behind Bill Allowing Military to Arrest and Detain American Citizens Indefinitely Submitted by mark karlin on Tue, 12/13/2011 - 10:47am.
- EditorBlog <http://blog.buzzflash.com/editorblog> * MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT * Is President Obama really likely to veto a Senate bill that passed the Senate that allows for the military to indefinitely detain Americans? According to Sen. Carl Levin - chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee - who headed Democratic Party negotiations on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, it was the White House that insisted on the military having the option - instead of police or federal law enforcement - to detain American citizens considered "belligerent" to the security of the nation. Glenn Greenwald points this out in a commentary<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=AKczvY6iHEzxHD1RzeQot%203KVXbEsJYq>that includes a videotape of Senator Levin making the claim about White House culpability in the phrasing. RT<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=tqs%20IU%20fcvkunwxZoSKtUO3KVXbEsJYq>more extensively explores the White House insistence on the military option of indefinitely detaining American citizens without involvement of the judicial system: According to Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), however, Americans should be a bit more concerned about what the president's actual intentions are. Levin, who sits on the Armed Services Committee as chairman, has revealed to Congress that the Obama administration influenced the wording of the act and shot down text that would have saved American citizens from the indefinite imprisonment and suspension of habeas corpus. - Hide quoted text - 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...." John Wood of Change.org writes that President Obama proposed a veto of Section 1032 of the NDAA, which does not pertain to the detention of American citizens. Rather, that section deals with the use of the US military in taking custody of suspected criminals. Section 1031, which actually deals with the indefinite imprisonment of Americans, remains not only unopposed by the Obama administration, but the president has made sure that the law specifically includes Americans, urging Congress to redraft the legislation with increasingly confusing wording that makes the legalization detrimental to America. To those who hold out hope that Obama will veto the bill on the grounds of protecting the right of habeas corpus for American citizens, as guaranteed in the Constitution, it seems an unlikely scenario. Not only did the Defense Authorization Act pass the Senate by a landslide majority, not only does the bill fund the military - but it also appears that the White House supports its suppression of civil liberties. Now, short of some political miracle, the Army will be able to decide which Americans to arrest in the middle of the night and make disappear. Sounds a lot like Iraq under Saddam Hussein in terms of authorized powers, doesn't it?
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