Much of the White House signing statement criticized the NDAA's detention provisions as too restrictive of the executive branch, essentially declaring that Obama wanted the flexibility to decide on military or civilian detention facilities and judicial processes on a case-by-case basis. An aide, speaking to the press in Hawaii, where Obama is vacationing, said that the president would be "making sure that none of these congressional provisions impede the ability of the counter-terrorism and law enforcement and military professionals who are keeping this country safe."
The White House statement specifically criticized "unwarranted restrictions on the executive branch's authority to transfer detainees to a foreign country." The Obama administration has continued the practice of "extraordinary rendition" in which individuals are seized by the US military or intelligence services overseas and transferred to third countries for torture and interrogation.
Obama also objected to any limitation on US military flexibility in transferring prisoners in Afghanistan to the custody of the Afghan government -- another instance in which prisoner interrogation and torture have been "outsourced."
There is an intrinsic connection between the main purpose of the NDAA -- to authorize and fund the Pentagon's operations for fiscal year 2012 -- and the sections on military detention of prisoners both inside and outside the United States. The legislation includes new US sanctions against Iran aimed at choking off the country's oil exports, an act of economic warfare, while financing the worldwide operations of American imperialism. It demonstrates that militarism and aggressive war abroad go hand in hand with authoritarianism and dictatorship at home.
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