Thread: Ron Paul on the Issues

WHAT OUR CHILDREN ARE DYING FOR IN AFGHANISTAN

The Taliban had all but eradicated the opium growers before the US invasion. So why is cheap Afghani heroin flooding into the United States?

In Afghan fields the poppies grow.
Between the crosses.
Row on row.

1998 Unocal Statement: Suspension of activities related to proposednatural gas pipeline across Afghanistan As a result of sharply deteriorating political conditions in the region, Unocal, which serves as the development manager for the Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline consortium, has suspended all activities involving the proposed pipeline project in Afghanistan.

From the 1998 Congressional Record. Emphasis added to text.U.S. INTERESTS IN THE CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 12, 1998 Next we would like to hear from Mr. John J. Maresca, vice president of international relations, Unocal Corporation. You may proceed as you wish. STATEMENT OF JOHN J. MARESCA, VICE PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, UNOCAL CORPORATION Mr. Maresca. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's nice to see you again. I am John Maresca, vice president for international relations of the Unocal Corporation. Unocal, as you know, is one of the world's leading energy resource and project development companies. I appreciate your invitation to speak here today. I believe these hearings are important and timely. I congratulate you for focusing on Central Asia oil and gas reserves and the role they play in shaping U.S. policy. I would like to focus today on three issues. First, the need for multiple pipeline routes for Central Asian oil and gas resources. Second, the need for U.S. support for international and regional efforts to achieve balanced and lasting political settlements to the conflicts in the region, including Afghanistan. Third, the need for structured assistance to encourage economic reforms and the development of appropriate investment climates in the region. In this regard, we specifically support repeal or removal of section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Mr. Chairman, the Caspian region contains tremendous untapped hydrocarbon reserves. Just to give an idea of the scale, proven natural gas reserves equal more than 236 trillion cubic feet. The region's total oil reserves may well reach more than 60 billion barrels of oil. Some estimates are as high as 200 billion barrels. In 1995, the region was producing only 870,000 barrels per day. By 2010, western companies could increase production to about 4.5 million barrels a day, an increase of more than 500 percent in only 15 years. If this occurs, the region would represent about 5 percent of the world's total oil production. One major problem has yet to be resolved: how to get the region's vast energy resources to the markets where they are needed. Central Asia is isolated. Their natural resources are land locked, both geographically and politically. Each of the countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia faces difficult political challenges. Some have unsettled wars or latent conflicts. Others have evolving systems where the laws and even the courts are dynamic and changing. In addition, a chief technical obstacle which we in the industry face in transporting oil is the region's existing pipeline infrastructure. Because the region's pipelines were constructed during the Moscow-centered Soviet period, they tend to head north and west toward Russia. There are no connections to the south and east. But Russia is currently unlikely to absorb large new quantities of foreign oil. It's unlikely to be a significant market for new energy in the next decade. It lacks the capacity to deliver it to other markets. Two major infrastructure projects are seeking to meet the need for additional export capacity. One, under the aegis of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, plans to build a pipeline west from the northern Caspian to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Oil would then go by tanker through the Bosporus to the Mediterranean and world markets. The other project is sponsored by the Azerbaijan International Operating Company, a consortium of 11 foreign oil companies, including four American companies, Unocal, Amoco, Exxon and Pennzoil. This consortium conceives of two possible routes, one line would angle north and cross the north Caucasus to Novorossiysk. The other route would cross Georgia to a shipping terminal on the Black Sea. This second route could be extended west and south across Turkey to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. But even if both pipelines were built, they would not have enough total capacity to transport all the oil expected to flow from the region in the future. Nor would they have the capability to move it to the right markets. Other export pipelines must be built. At Unocal, we believe that the central factor in planning these pipelines should be the location of the future energy markets that are most likely to need these new supplies. Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union are all slow growth markets where demand will grow at only a half a percent to perhaps 1.2 percent per year during the period 1995 to 2010. Asia is a different story all together. It will have a rapidly increasing energy consumption need. Prior to the recent turbulence in the Asian Pacific economies, we at Unocal anticipated that this region's demand for oil would almost double by 2010. Although the short-term increase in demand will probably not meet these expectations, we stand behind our long-term estimates. I should note that it is in everyone's interest that there be adequate supplies for Asia's increasing energy requirements. If Asia's energy needs are not satisfied, they will simply put pressure on all world markets, driving prices upwards everywhere. The key question then is how the energy resources of Central Asia can be made available to nearby Asian markets. There are two possible solutions, with several variations. One option is to go east across China, but this would mean constructing a pipeline of more than 3,000 kilometers just to reach Central China. In addition, there would have to be a 2,000-kilometer connection to reach the main population centers along the coast. The question then is what will be the cost of transporting oil through this pipeline, and what would be the netback which the producers would receive. For those who are not familiar with the terminology, the netback is the price which the producer receives for his oil or gas at the well head after all the transportation costs have been deducted. So it's the price he receives for the oil he produces at the well head. The second option is to build a pipeline south from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean. One obvious route south would cross Iran, but this is foreclosed for American companies because of U.S. sanctions legislation. The only other possible route is across Afghanistan, which has of course its own unique challenges. The country has been involved in bitter warfare for almost two decades, and is still divided by civil war. From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders, and our company. Mr. Chairman, as you know, we have worked very closely with the University of Nebraska at Omaha in developing a training program for Afghanistan which will be open to both men and women, and which will operate in both parts of the country, the north and south. Unocal foresees a pipeline which would become part of a regional system that will gather oil from existing pipeline infrastructure in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. The 1,040-mile long oil pipeline would extend south through Afghanistan to an export terminal that would be constructed on the Pakistan coast. This 42-inch diameter pipeline will have a shipping capacity of one million barrels of oil per day. The estimated cost of the project, which is similar in scope to the trans-Alaska pipeline, is about $2.5 billion. Given the plentiful natural gas supplies of Central Asia, our aim is to link gas resources with the nearest viable markets. This is basic for the commercial viability of any gas project. But these projects also face geopolitical challenges. Unocal and the Turkish company Koc Holding are interested in bringing competitive gas supplies to Turkey. The proposed Eurasia natural gas pipeline would transport gas from Turkmenistan directly across the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey. Of course the demarcation of the Caspian remains an issue. Last October, the Central Asia Gas Pipeline Consortium, called CentGas, in which Unocal holds an interest, was formed to develop a gas pipeline which will link Turkmenistan's vast Dauletabad gas field with markets in Pakistan and possibly India. The proposed 790-mile pipeline will open up new markets for this gas, traveling from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Multan in Pakistan. The proposed extension would move gas on to New Delhi, where it would connect with an existing pipeline. As with the proposed Central Asia oil pipeline, CentGas can not begin construction until an internationally recognized Afghanistan Government is in place. The Central Asia and Caspian region is blessed with abundant oil and gas that can enhance the lives of the region's residents, and provide energy for growth in both Europe and Asia. The impact of these resources on U.S. commercial interests and U.S. foreign policy is also significant. Without peaceful settlement of the conflicts in the region, cross-border oil and gas pipelines are not likely to be built. We urge the Administration and the Congress to give strong support to the U.N.-led peace process in Afghanistan. The U.S. Government should use its influence to help find solutions to all of the region's conflicts. U.S. assistance in developing these new economies will be crucial to business success. We thus also encourage strong technical assistance programs throughout the region. Specifically, we urge repeal or removal of section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. This section unfairly restricts U.S. Government assistance to the government of Azerbaijan and limits U.S. influence in the region. Developing cost-effective export routes for Central Asian resources is a formidable task, but not an impossible one. Unocal and other American companies like it are fully prepared to undertake the job and to make Central Asia once again into the crossroads it has been in the past. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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US Policy On Taliban Influenced By Oil Deal Negotiations The two claim that the US government's main objective in Afghanistan was to consolidate the position of the Taliban regime to obtain access to the oil and gas reserves in Central Asia. They affirm that until August [2001], the US government saw the Taliban regime "as a source of stability in Central Asia that would enable the construction of an oil pipeline across Central Asia" from the rich oilfields in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, through Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the Indian Ocean. Until now, says the book, "the oil and gas reserves of Central Asia have been controlled by Russia. The Bush government wanted to change all that." Click image for full size But, confronted with Taliban's refusal to accept US conditions, "this rationale of energy security changed into a military one", the authors claim."At one moment during the negotiations, the US representatives told the Taliban, 'either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs,'" Brisard said in an interview in Paris.

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The US government informed other nations of it's plan to invade Afghanistan months before the 9/11 attacks9 September 2001: Bush given Afghanistan invasion plan7 October 2001: Bush announces opening of Afghanistan attacks13 June 2002: Hamid Karzai Elected as New Afghan Leader(Former Unocal Consultant) 27 December 2002: Afghanistan Pipeline Deal signed An agreement has been signed in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, paving the way for construction of a gas pipeline from the Central Asian republic through Afghanistan to Pakistan. The building of the trans-Afghanistan pipeline has been under discussion for some years but plans have been held up by Afghanistan's unstable political situation.

Grassroots Defined

Each day, I go through stories similar to this one. Some I share, others I don’t. Yet, each demonstrates how Ron Paul supporters are reshaping the Republican Party from the bottom-up. From a story in Washington’s Bellingham Herald titled “Whatcom GOP sees flood of precinct filings from Ron Paul supporters:”

Ron Paul supporters filed en masse to run for Republican Party precinct committee officers, grass-roots elected seats that will be on this year’s primary election ballot.
The goal, said one PCO race newcomer, is to return the party to the principles it used to have.

“It needs to change,” said Greg Parsons, who is running against PCO Kathy Kershner. “I do have some issues with establishment Republicans. On the contrary, I think we are, in fact, the real, true conservative Republicans.”

PCO seats, elected every two years, often receive no interest, or only one person files. This year, because of a flood of interest in Republican PCO seats, many more contested races will be on the ballot…

But nearly an equal number of names unfamiliar to party officials appeared on the filing list, and many challenged longtime PCOs. By comparing them to the list of caucus participants, they learned they are Paul supporters, Van Werven said.

“I suspect that they are interested in organizing – reorganizing – the local Republican Party,” Van Werven said.

Grassroots Defined*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign CommitteeRon Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

Memorial Day Thoughts on Honor and Duty

Today we remember those who gave their lives serving our country.

We must always remember that while it is the soldier’s job to do his or her duty, it is the citizen’s job to make sure that when our government decides to put our soldiers in harm’s way, it is for a good reason. Our leaders must be held accountable for their decisions, good and bad–not simply given carte blanche on foreign policy.

Without fail, America’s soldiers have always done their duty. Today, we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country.

We, on the other hand, regular citizens, have done a poor job in holding our leaders accountable for bad decisions in our foreign policy. Many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans now think those wars were not worth it. We need to listen to our veterans. They deserve better, particularly given what we ask of them.

The same government that conservatives rightly recognize as being too inept and incompetent to do much good here at home is the same government that regularly makes life and death decisions for our troops abroad.

A soldier can never go wrong in doing what his or her country asks of them. That is their duty. Citizens can never go wrong in questioning their government too much. That is our duty.

Memorial Day Thoughts on Honor and Duty*|*Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign CommitteeRon Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign Committee

Blood for Profit



Published on May 28, 2012 by crabbydogtrix

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_COMING_HOME_NEW_VETERANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&T EMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-27-13-40-57

Record 45% of Iraq and Afghanistan vets have filed for disability

By Muriel Kane
Sunday, May 27, 2012 20:11 EDT



Topics: afghanistan ♦ Gulf War veterans ♦ Iraq

According to a new report from the Associated Press, a record 45% of the 1.6 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are seeking compensation for service-related injuries.

This is more than double the rate for Gulf War veterans. For all the publicity given to “Gulf War syndrome,” only an estimated 21% of the veterans of that conflict have filed disability claims.

The recent applicants are also citing a much larger number of ailments than veterans of previous wars — an average of eight or nine per person, which has shot up over the past year to 11 to 14. This compares to less than four for Vietnam War veterans who are currently receiving compensation, and just two for veterans of World War II and Korea.

The causes of the increase, and to what extent it simply reflects the poor economy, are not clear. “Government officials and some veterans’ advocates say that veterans who might have been able to work with certain disabilities may be more inclined to seek benefits now because they lost jobs or can’t find any,” the AP explains.

Much of the change, however, is clearly the legitimate result of more soldiers surving life-threatening injuries, along with an increased incidence of concussions and severe hearing loss resulting from IED blasts.

Even the heavy body armor that helps save lives can often leave soldiers with back, shoulder, and knee problems that sometimes require orthopedic surgery. In addition, 400,000 veterans have already been treated for mental health problems, most often post-traumatic stress disorder, and these have been exacerbated by multiple deployments.

Whatever the cause, the flood of applicants is putting strain on a system that is badly backlogged — as a result of 1.3 million claims in 2011 alone — and is still dealing largely with paper records. “We have 4.4 million case files sitting around 56 regional offices that we have to work with; that slows us down significantly,” Allison Hickey, the VA’s undersecretary for benefits, told the AP.

The real burden, however, may become apparent only 30 or 40 years from now, when the cost of caring for disabled veterans is multipled by the effects of old age. Harvard economist Linda Bilmes estimates that it will amount to $600 billion to $900 billion overall.

“This is a huge number and there’s no money set aside,” Bilmes says. “Unless we take steps now into some kind of fund that will grow over time, it’s very plausible many people will feel we can’t afford these benefits we overpromised. … There’s [presently] a lot of sympathy and a lot of people want to help. But memories are short and times change.”

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Chad A. Bascom [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Record 45% of Iraq and Afghanistan vets have filed for disability | The Raw Story

Federal Case To Seat Ron Paul Delegates - Here's The Info

Submitted by Patriot Press_U... on Mon, 05/28/2012 - 18:07
Daily Paul Liberty Forum

By Richard Gilbert @USA_Free_Press

A Federal Lawsuit to Seat All Ron Paul Delegates is being filed in the 9th Circuit - The 9th Circuit like all circuits have Trial level Courts as well as an Appellate Court. The Ronald Reagan Courthouse in Santa Ana Is A Trial Court within The 9th Circuit.

The Republican National Committee and Party Along with All 50 State Parties Are named as parties to the case.

This case seeks a Court Order to Seat All Ron Paul Delegates elected in accordance with each State's Bylaws.

Parking Lots A Plus!

Don't worry if your State Bylaws recite that you are bound. Let the Judge decide.

Don't sign any affadavits / Declarations / Pledges

If you already signed such a document don't worry. That's what Judges are for.

The Case Also Seeks A Court Order That All Delegates Are Unbound Free Agents To Vote their conscience on the first and all ballots.

Are you in it to win it?

The Judge must have your name to help you.

Contact Information
Richard Gilbert
E Mail RichardAttorney@Gmail.com
Tel: 949-201-8925
Fax: 714-667-2388

Federal Case To Seat Ron Paul Delegates - Here's The Info | Peace . Gold . Liberty | Ron Paul 2012

Hey Banksters: We Are Fully Awake ~ "We mourn the fallen heroes you took from us" ~



Memorial Day 2012: To the International Banksters, We the people know your crimes.

We mourn the fallen heroes you took from us through your contrived wars.

But we celebrate the heroes who are still with us.

Heroes like Dr. Ron Paul who have the courage to stand against you. And like Dr. Paul, we the people stand against you - We stand for Liberty.

We are fully awake.

Bilderberg Reporting Hits Matt Drudge, Reaches Millions

Monday, May 28, 2012 – by Staff Report

Bilderberg power masters meet in the US ... Every time a Bilderberg Meeting takes place, important things happen. The last time they met in the US was an election year, 2008 – and the world got Obama. This year they're back in the US: will they decide who the next president will be? When in 2008 they gathered from June 5 to 8 in Chantilly, Virginia – just a stone's throw from the Washington DC – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were neck-in-neck in the battle for the Democratic Party's presidential candidacy. – RT via Drudge

Dominant Social Theme: They don't exist.

Free-Market Analysis: The Drudge Report, which can reach tens of millions of viewers, has posted an article from RT about the mysterious and secretive Bilderberger group (see above).

Ten years ago, knowledge of the Bilderbergers was restricted to a tiny group of "conspiracy theorists." Today, thanks to what we call the Internet Reformation, a search of queries for "Bilderberg" reveals 10 million Google queries.

Bear in mind the Bilderberg meetings are not advertised and those who attend them do not seek publicity. Here's some more from the RT article written by famous Argentine commentator Adrian Salbuchi:

On June 5 of that year, Barack and Hillary mysteriously "disappeared" for some hours "somewhere in the DC area." Their agendas blocked out, they clearly sneaked off to "Meet the Bilderbergers."

The media kept mum about that, save for an Associated Press report on the campaign trail saying that, "reporters traveling with Obama sensed something might be happening between the pair (i.e. Obama and Hillary) when they arrived at Dulles International Airport after an event in Northern Virginia and Obama was not aboard the airplane.

Asked at the time about the Illinois Senator's whereabouts, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs smiled and declined to comment." (The AP dispatch "Obama and Clinton meet, discuss uniting Democrats" is, strangely, "no longer available" on their website). Be that as it may, two days later, Hillary withdrew from the race and Obama became the presidential candidate. Did Bilderberg make Hillary "an offer she couldn't refuse" to clear the way for Obama to the White House? Did they promise her that she would become his Secretary of State?

We can see telltale manifestations in this article about how Bilderberg has been treated in the mainstream press. Attendees are rarely mentioned and the meeting itself was never referred to until the alternative 'Net media began to cover it.

Now the meetings are mentioned in the mainstream press – though still rarely – and this one, upcoming, has received attention in the US because it is taking place at the Westfield Marriott Hotel in Virginia from May 30 to June 3.

The RT article boldly speculates that the meeting is taking place in the US because of US presidential elections. So the question RT asks is: "Will 'key presidential candidacy decisions' be made again this year?"

A favorite Bilderberg method consists of inviting wannabe future heads of state to their meetings to determine whether they will go along with their agenda. We thus saw George H. W. Bush attend their 1985 meeting, Bill Clinton attend their 1991 meeting, Tony Blair in 1993, and Romano Prodi, former head of the EU Commission, in 1999.

While this is a speculative statement, the lack of clarity surrounding this most powerful confab gives rise justifiably to this sort of speculation. According to the official website www.bilderbergmeetings.com, the meetings are part of the activities of a "by-invitation-only" club of around 140 very high-power people from business, finance, oil, politics, media, industry, academia and nobility."

The idea is that such people can best express themselves and benefit from others' viewpoints in "a small, flexible, informal and off-the-record international forum."

As RT points out, Bilderberg is only one of a number of facilities that pursue what RT calls a "globalist agenda."

Here at the Daily Bell, we haven't been shy about analyzing the way the globalist promotion works, via dominant social themes – fear-based promotions that frighten people into agreeing with globalist solutions.

The Daily Bell and other alternative media often are branded as "conspiracy theorists" for pointing out the obvious – that there is a power elite funded by the central banks it controls and that it seeks constant amalgamations for purposes of internationalism.

RT concludes, "Clearly, they [the globalists] run countries around the world, not voting citizens..."

Articles like this one, reaching millions over time via the Internet, certainly show us that the era of building global governance by stealth is over. The question now becomes whether the globalists have a critical mass of momentum and acceptance.

Conclusion: In the future, they will have to pursue internationalism publicly. This will be a critical issue in the 21st century. Source: The Daily Bell

http://chasvoice.blogspot.com/2012/05/bilderberg-reporting-hits-matt-drudge.html#axzz1wDcVWxx0

Checklist for the TEXAS Primary on Tuesday May 29th

Submitted by sovereignjanice on Mon, 05/28/2012 - 19:30
Daily Paul Liberty Forum
Texas

Texas Primary Checklist

[] Voting Day: Tuesday May 29th, 2012

[] Voting time: 7 a.m.-7 p.m

[] Find your nearest voting location: www.evoter.com

[] Vote for Ron Paul

[] Vote for Sheriff Mack in Texas CD 21. He opposes Lamar Smith, the man who created SOPA, supports NDAA, REAL ID, Patriot Act and E-Verify

[] Hand out Paul vs Romney Comparison Sheets outside your voting station:

1) English Version: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0oR...dnbVhsSW8/edit

2) Spanish Version: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0oR...QybEVpaGs/edit

[] Apply to be an At Large delegate by the May 31st deadline by filling out and sending in this form: http://s3.amazonaws.com/texasgop_pre...pplication.pdf


♣ Checklist for the TEXAS Primary on Tuesday May 29th | Peace . Gold . Liberty | Ron Paul 2012

One Foot Off the Slippery Slope: NDAA Ruled Unconstitutional

by Travis Kelly, May 28, 2012

If the founding fathers were spinning in their graves like centrifuges over recent assaults on the Constitution, their RPMs slowed down a bit last Wednesday when U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled that Section 1021 in the latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), allowing military detention of American citizens without due process, is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit was brought by veteran journalist Chris Hedges, with attorneys Carl Mayer and Bruce Afran doing the heavy lifting without compensation. None thought they had a chance to win, given the juggernaut of military and police-state abuses that have rolled over us in the decade since 9/11. But as Hedges said after the verdict, “A stunning and monumental victory … every once in a while the gods smile on the damned.”

The defendants, President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, had argued that this new NDAA merely codified what the panicked 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) had spawned over the last decade: indefinite military detention, unwarranted searches and seizures, assassination, torture — only now it all could be employed on American soil, against American citizens, however or whenever the president and Pentagon saw fit.

It might as well be known as the “Enabling Act,” after the one in 1933 granting that mustached corporal extraordinary powers to combat terrorism after the Reichstag fire.
Hedges argued that, as a journalist who spent seven years as a correspondent in the Middle East, he interviewed many unsavory characters, including ones that could be designated our enemies. He noted after the verdict: “The government lawyers, despite being asked five times by the judge to guarantee that we plaintiffs would not be charged under the law for our activities, refused to give any assurances. They did not provide assurances because under the law there were none. … We too could be swept away into a black hole.”

But we’re not out of the woods yet: the administration could appeal the ruling, and it could go all the way to the Supreme Court, which, given the number of gung-ho Bush appointees on board, could be disastrous.

Unfortunately, the House refused to adopt the earlier bipartisan Smith-Amash amendment that would have repealed the indefinite detention provision. Instead, they adopted the Gohmert amendment, stating that the NDAA will not “deny the writ of habeas corpus or deny any constitutional rights for persons detained in the United States under the AUMF who are entitled to such rights.”

This is still ambiguous language; Section 1021 states that the military is not“required” to detain American citizens. It does not forbid it. That is enough wiggle room for this president, or any future president, to strip American citizens of their rights via some new Orwellian designation and start disappearing enemies — of the state, or the party, or his own personal enemies, into the gulag of detention camps built by Halliburton subsidiary KBR (in 2006, the Department of Homeland Security awarded KBR a $385 million contract to build these camps for a possible influx of illegal immigrants, or to support the “rapid development of new programs,” whatever that means).

Here’s what’s at stake: last week, a database compiled by two university law schoolsestablished that, since 1989, over 2,000 convicts had been exonerated for crimes they did not commit. The average term of imprisonment for these innocent victims: 11 years. That’s a lot of wasted life and a lot of mistakes by our judicial system, with all of its constitutional protections.

But now the Pentagon is going to decide some of these criminal cases with no trial and ensure that many innocent people are not caught in the dragnet? And not abused Abu Ghraib–style? How do you prove your innocence from a dungeon? Without providing lawyers or any due process at all, the DOD is going to do a better job than our imperfect judicial systems have done?

Tell it your gullible uncle. This is a dangerous precedent — one more arrow in the quiver of the “unitary executive” principle, which is to say that King George will rule over us once more. Any citizen, Republican, Democrat, or third party, who would support such a monstrosity needs a refresher course in the American Constitution, and if that doesn’t work, a visa to some seedy banana republic where military juntas and torture dens are routine. They have no place in this republic, which as the founding fathers understood, requires eternal vigilance against control freaks and totalitarians. As ever, James Madison said it best: “It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”

One Foot Off the Slippery Slope: NDAA Ruled Unconstitutional by Travis Kelly -- Antiwar.com