Senate Bill: America Is Now Part of the Battlefield

[Melissa G]

Senate Bill: America Is Now Part of the Battlefield

By Chris Anders, ACLU

26 November 11



Quietly, the Senate is pushing through a bill that would radically redefine the extrajudicial powers of the military and, apparently, allow for the indefinite detention of US citizens. -- JPS/RSN



Senators demand the military lock up American Citizens in a "Battlefield" they define as being right outside your window.


While nearly all Americans head to family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Senate is gearing up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday that goes to the very heart of who we are as Americans. The Senate will be voting on a bill that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a war zone, but at American citizens and other civilians far from any battlefield - even people in the United States itself.

Senators need to hear from you, on whether you think your front yard is part of a "battlefield" and if any president can send the military anywhere in the world to imprison civilians without charge or trial.

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. Even Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) raised his concerns about the NDAA detention provisions during last night's Republican debate. 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.

snip

Now is the time to stop this bad idea. Please urge your senators to vote YES on the Udall Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.

More...http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/275-42/8594-focus-senate-bill-america-is-now-part-of-the-battlefield

[Donnachaidh]

1. who the hell would UNREC *this*?

kicked and recced to ZERO. :grr:

[DJ13]

2. Totalitarians are in both parties

[Melissa G]

3. It's interesting to see how many attack threads have surfaced on DU lately

Thanks for the K&R!

[bhikkhu]

4. I'd rather see a link to the bill so people could make up their own minds

...as it doesn't actually say what the OP says it does. I don't think congress needs a flood of calls by people all nuts over something they heard 4th-hand on the internet about a bill they didn't bother to even look at.

Here's the bill, if anyone would like to read it: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.1867:

- and with all that said, I'd support the Udall amendment anyway, as the article suggests :)

[Melissa G]

5. your link did not get to the bill for me

:shrug: does it work for you?

[bhikkhu]

7. Yes - but I see the link doesn't work when pasted...

That's odd...I can get to it fine by googling "national defense authorization act 1867", and the LOC link comes up as second on the list for me. Its well organized under title headings and there are huge amounts of good things in it - long-term reversals of bush/cheney crap, and much related to the drawdowns of the wars.

The most relevant bit to the OP is Section 1032, under Title X, where it deals with military detention policies, and 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."

[lsewpershad]

6. What's next???

[Melissa G]

8. Another article on the topic

Military Detention Versus We the People
Sunday 27 November 2011
by: Shahid Buttar, Truthout | News Analysis


Congress has a deserved reputation for cluelessness. Our leaders have a habit of ignoring real crises like housing, education, mass incarceration, and climate change, while contriving distractions like the budget debate that essentially froze Washington, DC for the past year.

snip
On Monday, the Senate will grapple with Congress’ latest bipartisan foolishness, the National Defense Authorization Act. Ironically opposed by both the White House and the Pentagon, it would expand preventive and arbitrary detention beyond Guantánamo Bay and the CIA’s shuttered black sites, importing it into the domestic United States.

The Senate Armed Services Committee, led by Senators Carl Levin (D-Michigan) and John McCain (R-Arizona), approved the bill despite its provisions for military detention of any suspect (even those apprehended within the United States) accused (not proven) of involvement in any terror-related offense. Presumably, military detention would include those accused of offenses as innocuous as "lying to a federal agent," unrelated to actual terrorism yet classified as terror-related.

The most glaring problem with the committee's legislation is its violation of our nation’s most fundamental values shared across our political spectrum.

More...http://www.truth-out.org/military-detention-vs-we-people/1322380800

[Dawson Leery]

9. Ironically, Dianne Feinstein does not like this provision.

http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=d5f1339a-44cc-4e09-86e5-c961d9c30b13

[Melissa G]

10. afternoon kick n/t