The Senate voted in favor of indefinite military detention without a trial today, but Obama says he will veto.
Congress is fast-tracking a new Pentagon spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, which contains a provision that would allow for indefinite military detention of anyone, anywhere in the world, suspected of having ties to terrorists, including U.S. citizens. Carl Levin (D – Michigan) and John McCain (R – Arizona) are the bipartisan campaigners for the 680-page bill, and they hope to stop many an evil-doer and freedom-hater by effectively making the military the police, jury and judge.
President Obama opposes the provision, and he is not alone. The Secretary of Defense, the head of the FBI, 26 retired generals and admirals, senior interrogators and counterterrorism officials from the Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations, and the Director of National Intelligence are on his side. This show of solidarity was prior to the Senate voting today that the provision be kept.
Indefinite military detention is neither a politically savvy idea nor one that would hold weight based on its own merits, which is why McCain and Levin stuck it into a tome that necessarily needs to be passed in some form for the Pentagon to stay open.
To illustrate this in a metaphor, it’s like a kid asking her parents “Can I have $20 for the movies,” then quickly, as if saying the alphabet in one second, whispering, “and chain my fucking sister to a pipe in the cellar?”
“We can and must deal with the Al Queda threat,” said Sen. Carl Levin, imploring a familiar argument. “The Supreme Court has ruled that citizens can be held.”
Levin is referring to Hamdi v. Rumsfield. In 2001, a man named Yaser Esam Hamdi was captured by Afghan military forces and brought to Americans. They sent him to Guantanamo Bay, then to Norfolk, Virginia, where it was discovered that Hamdi was, as he had claimed all along, an American citizen.
After his continued detainment a petition from Hamdi’s father was issued and eventually wound up on the desks of the Supreme Court in 2004. The Court ruled eight votes to one that it is unlawful to detain a suspect who is an American citizen without giving them access to a fair trial, lawyer, etc.
Fast-forward to 2011 and our infamously befuddled-cum-corrupt Congress is revisiting neoconservative policies about detention in the name of fighting Al-Qaeda.
“Despite strong opposition to the harmful detention legislation from virtually the entire national security leadership of the government, the Senate said…yes to indefinite detention without charge or trial,” said Christopher Anders, ACLU senior legislative counsel.
Protect IP and SOPA - bills that would fundamentally alter the internet’s structure by imposing stringent copyright policies, potentially shutting down any website that links to unoriginal content – are more threatening only because of their likelihood to pass. If this provision were to go through it would fundamentally alter the justice system.
His foreign policy is not perfect, but Obama is making the right move here. We should not chain our sisters to a pipe in the cellar, at least without a fair trial.
November 30, 2011 at 4:15 pm, Jeffrey ten G. said:
I’m surprised, I thought he’d be all for it. I’m suspicious of the link on the second paragraph on the words “President Obama opposes”, it links to an unrelated article. Was this a mistake or a cover-up for the President actually supporting this act?
November 30, 2011 at 7:21 pm, Kdstuck said:
For Heaven’s Sake, who do think Mr. Obama IS?? He’s a liberal!
December 01, 2011 at 2:43 pm, Anonymous said:
If he is a liberal, he has yet to prove it to me… He seems more like a status quo Neo-Conservative with a willingness to bend on gay and abortion issues.
December 01, 2011 at 5:29 am, Brady Rose said:
he’s said he will veto the bill but also already asserts that the executive already has this power, no bill needed.
November 30, 2011 at 6:44 pm, QD said:
With the failure of the Udall Amendment and the likely passing of the
bill in the Senate, the last hope to kill this bill with in its current
form is for a presidential veto. Use your voice to influence the Obama
Administration to follow through with its statement that they will veto
this act. Please consider signing the online petition on the White House
website (link below). Thanks
http://wh.gov/jeY
November 30, 2011 at 7:16 pm, John P said:
Look, folks, think…
This whole thing stinks of a stratagem.
What about this: The Dimphux gave the GOPhux the margin to defeat the amendment and get it to the House which will also pass it and it will go the Brave Sir Barry, who will mightily wield his wondrous VETO Pen and slash it to ribbons, where upon it will writhe for a time and then silently expire, and brave Sir Barry will have appeared at least for once NOT to have Capitulated, which will go over very well with those on the so-called “left” who have been ACHING for some tiny sign that he MIGHT be some fragment of whom they thought him to be when they so enthusiastically supported him in ’08.
Ya think?
December 01, 2011 at 12:36 pm, Hoyt596 said:
Did you just imply that the republicans are creating and passing unconstitutional legislation JUST so that Obama can veto it, to look good for other democrats?
Did you hear this from fox?
December 01, 2011 at 2:39 pm, Anonymous said:
I have become quite adept at recognizing and deciphering FoxSpeak… this ain’t it. You might have missed the implication that the Dems gave the GOP enough rope to hang themselves, thus setting up Obama, who in this comment, it is implied, is not a communist or “left” at all, to look reasonable.
November 30, 2011 at 7:19 pm, Kdstruck said:
you better have lots of proof before you enact this.
November 30, 2011 at 7:20 pm, Kdstruck said:
veto it! need proof to enact this? Suspicion not enough!!! This is America.
November 30, 2011 at 8:50 pm, Anonymous said:
HERE IT IS!!!!!!!…YOUR FUTURE!!
OUR FASCIST SENATE HAS PASSED THIS BILL!!
BEEN TO A FEMA CAMP YET?? YR FAMILY IS GONA… LOVE IT!!
TRY OUT GITMO.. FOR YR NEXT HOLIDAY….TRY SOME WATER BOARDING
AT OUR NEW SPORTS COMPLEX!! YOU’LL LOVE IT!!
OUR FASCIST U.S. Senate Votes for YOUR !! Indefinite, Unconstitutional Detention!!
JUST MAKE SURE THEY ARE NOT RE-ELECTED! EVER AGAIN!
December 01, 2011 at 5:27 am, Brady Rose said:
He said he will veto it, appearing to be against it, but then also asserted that the executive already has this power. So he is against the bill, but for having the power to do what the bill says: We can disappear and kill whoever we like unless you are on the homeland, in which case you are exempt, unless we call you a terrorist, which means your not exempt, therefore we can disappear and kill you – cause we say so.
So Obama is against it, but for it, We’re exempt, but we’re not… Yeah..
Remember how obama was against the wiretaps, but then later for it?
Remember how obama was against the wars, but then later for them?
Gee… Its almost like as if all presidents are deliberately lying to us, regardless of party..
December 01, 2011 at 9:51 pm, Anti said:
SO much for republican patriotism. ANyone who believes that is blind.
December 02, 2011 at 2:43 am, Test Tcc said:
This is a petition to impeach every politician who voted yes on this bill:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/892/petition-to-impeach-all-senators-who-voted-for-us-is-a-battlefield-and-to-detain-us-citizens-without/
December 02, 2011 at 1:58 pm, Chris Jones said:
Guess what? Obama is already using indefinite military detention. This would have simply made it law.
May 21, 2012 at 3:03 pm, Peter Good said:
Obama betrayed us in Dec. 2011 and did not veto. Will he do it again?