US Senate Traitors Pass ‘Indefinite Detention’ Bill S.1867, Create A Military Police State – Senator Rand Paul’s Adress To The American People (Video)

Senate Passes Controversial Defense Bill (The New American, Dec. 2, 2011):

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 state”: the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA, passed by a vote of 93 to 7, virtually stated that all of the United States may be considered a battlefield, and therefore the American military is permitted to indefinitely detain any American perceived to be a threat.

Several amendments were proposed by both Democrats and Republican Senators, which would have deleted the dangerous provisions that would allow the indefinite detention of American citizens. While most of those amendments were overwhelming voted down, a single compromise amendment was passed that was intended to quell fears that American citizens may be imprisoned indefinitely, though skeptics remain uncomfortable with the final outcome.

According to Firedoglake.com, sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA will:

1) Explicitly authorize the federal government to indefinitely imprison without charge or trial American citizens and others picked up inside and outside the United States;

(2) Mandate military detention of some civilians who would otherwise be outside of military control, including civilians picked up within the United States itself; and

(3) Transfer to the Department of Defense core prosecutorial, investigative, law enforcement, penal, and custodial authority and responsibility now held by the Department of Justice.

AddictingInfo.org adds:

A provision of S. 1867, or the National Defense Authorization Act bill, written by Senators John McCain and Carl Levin, declares American soil a battlefield and allows the President and all future Chief Executives to order the military to arrest and detain American citizens, innocent or not, without charge or trial. In other words, if this bill passes and the President signs it, OWS protesters or any American could end up arrested and indefinitely locked up by the military without the guaranteed right to due process or a speedy trial.

Both Senators Mark Udall (D) and Rand Paul (R) proposed amendments to the bill that would have weakened the more dangerous provisions. Udall’s amendment would have eliminated provisions regarding the handling of terrorism suspects, while Paul’s amendment had far more teeth and would have struck 1031 from the legislation altogether. Both amendments were overwhelmingly rejected, Udall’s by a vote of 37 to 61 and Paul’s by 30 to 67.

“The United States Senate has a solemn obligation to our men and women in uniform to pass a Defense Authorization Act, but we also owe it to those fighting the war on terror to prevent rushed, untested and legally controversial limitations on their operations. I can’t support provisions that I believe will hurt our national security,” Udall said prior to the vote. “We haven’t had time to adequately consider these provisions. We need to know what our military and intelligence experts — and our men and women in the field — actually need to most effectively prosecute the war on terror, especially before we change detainee provisions that are already working. I’m urging my colleagues to support my amendment so we can prevent a White House veto, move forward with the NDAA and reach a workable resolution on the detainee provisions.”

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California also proposed an amendment that would have limited mandatory military custody for suspected terrorists captured outside the United States, but that amendment was rejected as well by a vote of 45-55. A second amendment proposed by Feinstein that would have prohibited U.S. citizens from being held in indefinite detention without being charged or brought to a trial failed by a vote of 45 to 55.

In the end, Senators Feinstein and Lindsey Graham worked out a deal to pass an amendment that states, “Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law or authorities relating to the detention of United States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States or any other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States.” That compromise amendment passed 99 to 1, with only Senator Jon Kyl voting against it.

As noted by the Huffington Post:

The passage may head off a showdown with the White House, which had threatened to veto the entire bill on the grounds that the section on detentions tied the hands of counterterrorism officials in law enforcement and the military….

Left unresolved by the new language is just exactly what is constitutional when it comes to detaining American citizens in the United States. But opponents of the original provision said at least it would remain up to judges, not politicians.

“To this day the Supreme Court has never ruled on whether it is constitutional to indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen captured in the United States. Some of my colleagues see this differently, [but] the language we’ve agreed on makes it clear,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who had been adamantly opposed to giving the military what he saw as greater reign over Americans at home.

“The Supreme Court will decide who can be detained; the United States Senate will not,” Durbin said.

One amendment seemed to pass without issue: Senator McCain’s amendment to provide for greater cyber-security collaboration between the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. In other words, not only is all of the United States a battlefield, but so is the Internet.

During debate on the Senate floor, Senator Paul confronted John McCain, asking, “Would it be possible that an American citizen can then be declared an enemy combatant and sent to Guantanamo Bay and detained indefinitely?” McCain responded, “As long as that individual, no matter who they are, poses a threat to the security of the United States of America, should not be allowed to continue that threat.”

Judge Andrew Napolitano, host of Fox Business Network’s Freedom Watch called McCain’s response “nonsensical and unconstitutional.”

In a live stream, Rand Paul addressed the American people, asserting the dangerous nature of the NDAA:

James Madison, father of the Constitution warned, “The means of defense against foreign danger historically become instruments of tyranny at home”…. During war, there has always been a struggle to preserve constitutional liberties…. Rights given up now cannot be expected to be returned, so we do well to contemplate the diminishment of due process knowing that the rights we lose now may never be restored.

Paul’s entire address can be seen below:


YouTube

Don’t miss:

– Business Insider: The Media’s Blackout Of The National Defense Authorization Act Is Shameful – ‘IF THIS BILL PASSES IN ITS CURRENT FORM THE UNITED STATES WILL BE A MILITARY POLICE STATE’ (Video)

– Constitutional lawyer (Yale Law School graduate) & Founder Of Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes: Senate Bill Declares War On Americans (Video)

– Wired: U.S. Senate Wants The Military To Lock You Up Without Trial

– Natural News: Occupied America: Senate Bill 1867 Would Allow US Military To Detain And Murder Anti-Government Protesters In American Cities

– FOX News: Freedom Watch – Judge Napolitano Interviews Rand Paul On Unconstitutional INDEFINITE DETENTION Bill S. 1867 (Video)

– InfoWars: Senate Bill Would Allow US Military To Indefinitely Detain Americans Without Charge Or Trial Anywhere In The World

– Mother Jones: Is the US Getting Domestic Indefinite Military Detention (Also For US Citizens And Legal Permanent Residents) For Thanksgiving?

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.