Bipartisan legislation being considered in the U.S. Senate would expand the military’s power to go after any terrorism suspect, including American citizens, anywhere in the world—including within the United States—and confine them indefinitely without being charged or tried.
S. 1867, referred to as the National Defense Authorization Act bill, was drafted in secret by Senators Carl Levin (D-Michigan) and John McCain (R-Arizona) and was scheduled for a vote by the full Senate on Tuesday.
Voices on both the right and left have expressed concerns about the bill, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Senator Mark Udall (D-Colorado) has introduced an amendment to S. 1867 that would “delete the harmful provisions and replace them with a requirement for an orderly Congressional review of detention power,” according to the ACLU. “The Udall Amendment will make sure that the bill matches up with American values.”
The provision has also drawn the ire of high-ranking officials in the executive branch who see it as a usurpation of power by the military. FBI Director Robert Mueller wrote a letter to members of Congress raising his own concerns and stating that “The legislation ... will inhibit our ability to convince covered arrestees to cooperate immediately, and provide critical intelligence.” President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill.
ipartisan legislation being considered in the U.S. Senate would expand the military’s power to go after any terrorism suspect, including American citizens, anywhere in the world—including within the United States—and confine them indefinitely without being charged or tried.
S. 1867, referred to as the National Defense Authorization Act bill, was drafted in secret by Senators Carl Levin (D-Michigan) and John McCain (R-Arizona) and was scheduled for a vote by the full Senate on Tuesday.
Voices on both the right and left have expressed concerns about the bill, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Senator Mark Udall (D-Colorado) has introduced an amendment to S. 1867 that would “delete the harmful provisions and replace them with a requirement for an orderly Congressional review of detention power,” according to the ACLU. “The Udall Amendment will make sure that the bill matches up with American values.”29
McCain has become a less-than-useful idiot. He’s going senile and needs to resign.
Thanks, Arizona for this albatross for another six years.
Once power is given, it’s never rescinded! Also, the military isn’t after this power, it’s liberals and the executive branch.
SEC. 1032. REQUIREMENT FOR MILITARY CUSTODY.
(a) Custody Pending Disposition Under Law of War- (1) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in paragraph (4), the Armed Forces of the United States shall hold a person described in paragraph (2) who is captured in the course of hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) in military custody pending disposition under the law of war.
(2) COVERED PERSONS- The requirement in paragraph (1) shall apply to any person whose detention is authorized under section 1031 who is determined--
(A) to be a member of, or part of, al-Qaeda or an associated force that acts in coordination with or pursuant to the direction of al-Qaeda; and (B) to have participated in the course of planning or carrying out an attack or attempted attack against the United States or its coalition partners.
(3) DISPOSITION UNDER LAW OF WAR- For purposes of this subsection, the disposition of a person under the law of war has the meaning given in section 1031(c), except that no transfer otherwise described in paragraph (4) of that section shall be made unless consistent with the requirements of section 1033.
(4) WAIVER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY- The Secretary of Defense may, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence, waive the requirement of paragraph (1) if the Secretary submits to Congress a certification in writing that such a waiver is in the national security interests of the United 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. (c) Implementation Procedures-...
The language I posted above is what was in the bill as of the cloture vote.
Nov 29, ’11 7:36 PM
Roll Call Vote at 11am Wednesday; 2nd Degree Filing Deadline 10:30am Wednesday
At approximately 11:00am on Wednesday, November 30th, the Senate will conduct a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on S.1867, the Department of Defense Authorization Act. The filing deadline for all second degree amendments to S.1867 is 10:30am on Wednesday, November 30, 2011. If your Senator has a germane 2nd degree amendment and would like to preserve his or her right to offer, please send a signed copy of the amendment to the cloakroom prior to the deadline. If you have already filed, there is no need to re-file.
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I believe some of these cretin are taking heat.
“Just heard about this, what is going on?”
Near as I can figure, when you wade through it and check back to the references, it means (in brief) that US citizens are included among those who, if caught as a belligerent in hostilities against the United States, shall be subject to Military Law and the International Law of War. Among other things, that means:
They don’t get turned over to the civilian law enforcement to get read their Miranda rights and tried in a civilian court (if they come back after being released on bail).
They may be tried by a Military Commission if such trial is indicated.
They might be held till the end of hostilities which equates to indefinitely since we don’t know when hostilities will end.
Remember WWII? Belligerents from both sides who engaged in hostilities were held as prisoners of war till the end of hostilities. From the point of view of the time, they were being held indefinitely, since they did not know when WWII would end. And most of them never had a trial.
How would one prove you are not a terrorist against (mostly electronic) evidence so easily manufactured?
People over-reacting and misquoting legislation for the purposes of fear mongering and polemic. A previous poster gave you the exact text of the bill as presented prior to the cloture vote.
There are far more worrying pieces of legislation up for consideration.