Thread: Senate Votes Legislation Allows Military Detain Citizens

Treason From Within: The Road towards a Police State in America

Defense Authorization bill allows for military detentions of American citizens in the US.



by Dr. Andrew Bosworth
Global Research, November 28, 2011
multipolarfuture.com

Preparing for the Final Takedown?

There is a shocking piece of legislation working its way through Congress. A Defense Authorization bill for 2012 allows for military detentions of American citizens on American soil. These can be indefinite detentions, with no trial.

The American Civil Liberties Union statement (more of an alert) on November 23, 2011 deserves special attention:

“The U.S. Senate is considering the unthinkable: changing detention laws to imprison people — including Americans living in the United States itself — indefinitely and without charge.â€

Congress to Vote on EXPLICITLY Creating a Police State

by Washington's Blog
Global Research, November 27, 2011
Washington's Blog
many links on this post

If You Thought Police Brutality Was Bad … Wait Until You See What Congress Wants to Do Next Week

The police brutality against peaceful protesters in Berkeley, Davis, Oakland and elsewhere is bad enough.

But next week, Congress will vote on explicitly creating a police state.

The ACLU’s Washington legislative office explains:

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.

***

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.

***

The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself. The worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial provision is in S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which will be on the Senate floor on Monday.

***

I know it sounds incredible. New powers to use the military worldwide, even within the United States? Hasn’t anyone told the Senate that Osama bin Laden is dead, that the president is pulling all of the combat troops out of Iraq and trying to figure out how to get combat troops out of Afghanistan too? And American citizens and people picked up on American or Canadian or British streets being sent to military prisons indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. Really? Does anyone think this is a good idea? And why now?

***

In support of this harmful bill, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) explained that the bill will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefieldâ€

Related Thread here
America: Future of Freedom or Future of Tyranny?
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1286307.html#1286307

"Don't drop the soap!"

Senate votes to deny U.S. terrorists legal rights


By CAROLYN LOCHHEAD, WASHINGTON BUREAU

Published 08:10 p.m., Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Comments (30)


WASHINGTON - California Democrat Dianne Feinstein joined tea party-backed Kentucky Republican Rand Paul on Tuesday in a failed attempt to block Senate legislation that would allow the U.S. military to imprison American citizens indefinitely without trial if they are suspected of terrorism.

An amendment they backed to strip the provisions from a broad defense bill failed 38–60.

"The U.S. government should not have the ability to lock away its citizens for years and perhaps decades without charging them," Feinstein said, comparing the legislation to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Speaking as the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Feinstein declared that the nation "is safer than it has ever been before" from terrorist attack and that some 300 civilian terrorism prosecutions since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks prove the U.S. court system is working.

Paul was the only Republican who voted to strip the so-called detainee provisions, and 17 Democrats voted with the rest of Republicans to keep them in the broader legislation.

The bill has drawn a veto threat from the Obama administration and raised an outcry on the left and the right, opening a crack in what has been - since the 9/11 attacks - a united Republican front favoring broad war-making and detention powers by the executive branch.

In an emotional debate, Sens. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee, and the panel's top Republican, John McCain of Arizona, joined by Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the new laws are vital to fighting terrorism.

"If you join al-Qaida, you will suffer the consequences," Graham said. "If you're an American citizen and you betray your country, you're not going to be given a lawyer."

Graham said terrorism is not a crime but an act of war.

www.chron.com

The bill has drawn a veto threat from the Obama administration and raised an outcry on the left and the right, opening a crack in what has been - since the 9/11 attacks - a united Republican front favoring broad war-making and detention powers by the executive branch.

In an emotional debate, Sens. Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee, and the panel's top Republican, John McCain of Arizona, joined by Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the new laws are vital to fighting terrorism.

Senate Passes Controversial Defense Bill

Written by Raven Clabough
Friday, 02 December 2011 12:00

In the midst of allegations of police brutality and police aggression at the OWS protests, the U.S. Senate approved a bill that is said to “explicitly create a police stateâ€

Paul Craig Roberts: We have a republican party that is a Gestapo party

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEMDX2iu ... r_embedded

Dec 1, 2011

There is a bill in the Senate that is attempting to keep torture alive as an interrogation technique. The National Defense Authorization Act is being debated in Congress and if passed, American citizens could be detained without a court hearing anywhere in the world. President Obama stated he will veto the bill if it should pass. Is Senate Bill 1867 threatening the US constitution? Paul Craig Roberts, former Reagan administration official and columnist, gives us his take on the proposed bill.

H.R. 1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

H.R. 1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.

This bill originally passed the House May 26, 2011 House of Representatives by roll call vote. The totals were 322 Ayes, 96 Nays, 13 Present/Not Voting. Vote Details.

Dec 1, 2011: This bill passed in the Senate with changes by Unanimous Consent. A record of each senator’s position was not kept.
View all 33 votes on this bill.

Where it stands now:

Status: Bill passed both chambers. Next: The bill may now proceed to a conference committee of senators and representatives to work out differences in the versions of the bill each chamber approved. [Last Updated: Dec 2, 2011 6:14AM]

For a Summary of the Bill: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xp ... ab=summary

For the Complete Bill: Download the PDF http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin ... fs.txt.pdf

Cost Analysis/ CBO http://www.cbo.gov/cedirect.cfm?bill=hr1540&cong=112

For All information on the H.R. 1540: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h1540:

Articles Discussing or reporting on the H.R. 1540

Tea Party Patriots and Conservatives Protest Senator John McCain’s National Defense Authorization Act in His Home Turf, Tucson, Arizona http://www.pr.com/press-release/373821

WallStreet Journal http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec20 ... -d02.shtml

Examiner http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in- ... zation-act

Federal Times: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/201 ... EPARTMENTS

Connecting the dots on the National Defense Authorization Act http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/42805

http://www.patriotactionnetwork.com/gro ... year-2012/