Battlefield America: US Citizens Face Indefinite Military Detention in Senate Defense Bill

November 29, 2011 – WASHINGTON - The Senate is set to vote this week on a Pentagon spending bill that could usher in a radical expansion of indefinite detention under the U.S. government. A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act would authorize the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect -- anywhere in the world -- without charge or trial. The measure would effectively extend the definition of what is considered the military's "battlefield" to anywhere in the world, even within the United States. Its authors, Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, have been campaigning for its passage in a bipartisan effort. But the White House has issued a veto threat, with backing from top officials including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and FBI Director Robert Mueller. "This would be the first time since the McCarthy era that the United States Congress has tried to do this," says our guest, Daphne Eviatar of Human Rights First, which has gathered signatures from 26 retired military leaders urging the Senate to vote against the measure, as well as against a separate provision that would repeal the executive order banning torture. "In this case, we've seen the administration very eagerly hold people without trial for 10-plus years in military detention, so there's no reason to believe they would not continue to do that here. So we're talking about indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens, of lawful U.S. residents, as well as of people abroad."

For the complete interview, to read the transcript, download the podcast, and for additional Democracy Now! reports on the global war on terror, visit http://www.democracynow.org/

Not Good. UPDATE: THE ORWELLIAN PORTION OF THE BILL PASSED!

Sens. Paul, McCain clash over terrorist detainee amendment
By Josiah Ryan - 11/29/11 11:29 AM ET

Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and John McCain (Ariz.) battled on the Senate floor Tuesday over a proposed amendment to the pending defense authorization bill that could allow American citizens who are suspected of terrorism to be denied a civilian trial.

Paul argued the amendment, which is cosponsored by McCain, "puts every single American citizen at risk" and suggested that if the amendment passes, "the terrorists have won."

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/195889-sens-paul-mccain-clash-over-terrorist-detainee-amendment-

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/30-signs-that-the-united-states-of-america-is-being-turned-into-a-giant-prison



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Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall...Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the King's soldiers and all the King's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again

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At least there is one white hat in the senate. If only they would listen to him rather than the warmongerer McCain.

this is beyond, sad !!!

Here's an excerpt from a very interesting perspective on this Bill from a clever lady by the name of Naomi Wolf. To read it all (and it's worth it) click on the link that follows.

How Congress is Signing its own Arrest Warrants in the NDAA Citizen Arrest Bill

"Our leaders appear to be supporting this bill thinking that they will always be what they are now, in the fading light of a once-great democracy - those civilian leaders who safely and securely sit in freedom and DIRECT the military. In inhabiting this bubble, which their own actions are about to destroy, they are cocooned by an arrogance of power, placing their own security in jeopardy by their own hands, and ignoring history and its inevitable laws. The moment this bill becomes law, though Congress is accustomed, in a weak democracy, to being the ones who direct and control the military, the power roles will reverse: Congress will no longer be directing and in charge of the military: rather, the military will be directing and in charge of individual Congressional leaders, as well as in charge of everyone else - as any Parliamentarian in any society who handed this power over to the military can attest.

Perhaps Congress assumes that it will always only be 'they' who are targeted for arrest and military detention: but sadly, Parliamentary leaders are the first to face pressure, threats, arrest and even violence when the military obtains to power to make civilian arrests and hold civilians in military facilities without due process. There is no exception to this rule. Just as I traveled the country four years ago warning against the introduction of torture and secret prisons - and confidently offering a hundred thousand dollar reward to anyone who could name a nation that allowed torture of the 'other' that did not eventually turn this abuse on its own citizens - (confident because I knew there was no such place) - so today I warn that one cannot name a nation that gave the military the power to make civilian arrests and hold citizens in military detention, that did not almost at once turn that power almost against members of that nation's own political ruling class. This makes sense - the obverse sense of a democracy, in which power protects you; political power endangers you in a militarized police state: the more powerful a political leader is, the more can be gained in a militarized police state by pressuring, threatening or even arresting him or her."

Read more here: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/239772-How-Congress-is-Signing-its-own-Arrest-Warrants-in-the-NDAA-Citizen-Arrest-Bill

Now if Congress can be arrested for the banksters bailout - that would be something. And for gawd sakes don't forget Berneke. He's another one that belongs in JAIL for giving away taxpayer dollars to all of the foreign banks.

I truly hope someone nails that sucker.

Haha, exactly what I was thinking. Love those photos!