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Obama Approves Draconian Police State Law - by Stephen Lendman
On December 16, Obama's signature will head America closer to full-blown tyranny.
Obama supports draconian FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act provisions. Justification given is national security and war on terror hokum.
Henceforth, anyone anywhere, including US citizens, may be indefinitely held without charge or trial, based solely on suspicions, spurious allegations or none at all.
No reasonable proof is needed, just suspicions that those detained pose threats. Henceforth, indefinite detentions can follow mere membership (past or present) or support for suspect organizations.
Presidents now have unchecked dictatorial powers to arrest, interrogate and indefinitely detain law-abiding citizens if accused of potentially posing a threat.
Constitutional, statute and international laws won't apply. Martial law will replace them if so ordered.
As a result, US military personnel anywhere in the world may arrest US citizens and others, throw them in military dungeons, and hold them indefinitely outside constitutionally mandated civil protections, including habeas rights, due process, and other judicial procedures.
In other words, presidents may order anyone arrested and imprisoned for life without charge or trial. Tyranny arrived in America. Abuse of power replaced rule of law protections.
Even someone erroneously arrested and cleared of wrongdoing could be held indefinitely without charge, given non-civil trials, none at all, or, for foreign nationals, sent abroad to torture prison hellholes.
Civil Libertarian Responses
On December 14, an ACLU press release headlined, "White House Backs Away from Defense Bill Veto Threat," saying:
Obama "support(s) passage of the (FY2012) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which contains harmful provisions (to) authorize the US military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians, including American citizens, anywhere in the world."
Responding, ACLU Washington Legislative Office director Laura Murphy said:
"The president should more carefully consider the consequences of allowing this bill to become law. If (he) signs this bill, it will damage both his legacy and America's reputation for upholding the rule of law."
The last time Congress authorized indefinite detentions for uncharged US citizens without trial was in 1950 over Harry Truman's veto.
