US Senate Passes Indefinite Detention on 'Suspicion' Bill
by baz Friday, Dec 2 2011, 7:48pm
international / human rights / commentary

Welcome to the United States of Totalitarianism!

The US Senate recently passed a military spending Bill, which included a provision that allows the corrupt State to apprehend and detain citizens without trial or charge INDEFINITELY on SUSPICION of terrorist activities! Anyone who has ever been tortured and verballed by criminal ruling authorities is aware of the full implications of this undisguised Nazi Bill.

It is a very sad day in the history of a nation that was ONCE the bastion of Democracy and Freedom -- R.I.P The American Constitution and Bill of Rights.

"Held without trial

The U.S. Senate passed a $662 billion appropriations bill for the Pentagon late Thursday despite a controversial provision that could strip Americans of the right to trial if they are suspected of terrorism.

According to the proposed legislation, the military would be allowed to hold any person suspected of aiding al-Qaeda, the Taliban or an associated force without trial until the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force, enacted just after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are declared over.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and FBI Director Robert Mueller have opposed the provisions, saying it could hobble attempts to elicit information from suspects.

An amendment that would not “require” the military to hold American citizens or foreigners living legally within the U.S. was added at the last minute, but it doesn’t explicitly ban it.

The U.S. Constitution provides all accused persons with the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury.

The legislation would ban the military from transferring any detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba unless the Secretary of Defense first receives permission from Congress."

From RT:

The terrifying legislation that allows for Americans to be arrested, detained indefinitely, tortured and interrogated — without charge or trial — passed through the Senate on Thursday with an overwhelming support from 93 percent of lawmakers.

Only seven members of the US Senate voted against the National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday, despite urging from the ACLU and concerned citizens across the country that the affects of the legislation would be detrimental to the civil rights and liberties of everyone in America. Under the bill, Americans can be held by the US military for terrorism-related charges and detained without trial indefinitely.

Additionally, another amendment within the text of the legislation reapproved waterboarding and other “advanced interrogation techniques” that are currently outlawed.

"The bill is an historic threat to American citizens,” Christopher Anders of the ACLU tells the Associated Press.

For the biggest supporters of the bill, however, history necessitates that Americans must sacrifice their security for freedom.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a backer of the legislation, says current laws protecting Americans are too lax. Rather, says the senator, anyone suspected of terrorism "should not be read their Miranda Rights. They should not be given a lawyer."

Graham adds that suspected terrorists, “should be held humanely in military custody and interrogated about why they joined al-Qaeda and what they were going to do to all of us,” although other legislation in the bill isn’t exactly humane. Waterboarding, sleep-deprivation and other methods outlawed in the 2005 Anti-Torture Act will be added to a top-secret list of approved interrogation techniques that could be used on suspects, American or other.

Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte said last week that "terrorists shouldn't be able to view all of our interrogation practices online,” and Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) added during debate this week, "When a member of Al Qaeda or a similar associated terrorist group, I want . . . them to be terrified about what's going to happen to them in American custody.”

"I want them not to know what's going to happen,” added the senator and former presidential candidate.

Not only won’t they know their gruesome future, but they wouldn’t know their own rights — that’s because they won’t have any.

"We need the authority to hold those individuals in military custody so we aren't reading them Miranda rights," adds Kelly.

While lawmakers rallied with overwhelming support to approve the legislation against terrorists, it can also be applied to anyone, including American citizens, who are even suspected of terrorist-ties.

President Barack Obama has pledged in the past that he would veto the legislation if it made through Congress, and a White House official told the AP on Thursday that that threat still stands. As Obama is faced with a country on the brink of economic collapse so close to Election Day, however, a change of heart couldn’t be out of the question — the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 comes at a price-tag of nearly $30 billion below what Obama had asked for.

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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69585.html