Mach Report This Comment Date: March 09, 2010 02:07AM
Either are these politicians. Some of you guys wanted to vote for McCain for
President, hopefully you're learning as you go.
Sponsor
Sen.John McCain
Co-Sponsors
*
o Sen. Scott Brown [R, MA]
o Sen. Saxby Chambliss [R, GA]
o Sen. James Inhofe [R, OK]
o Sen. George LeMieux [R, FL]
o Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT]
o Sen. Jefferson Sessions [R, AL]
o Sen. John Thune [R, SD]
o Sen. David Vitter [R, LA]
o Sen. Roger Wicker [R, MS]
CALL YOUR SENATORS AND DEMAND THEY TAKE A POSITION ON THIS BILL
S.3081: Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010
- U.S. Congress - OpenCongress
The “Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of
2010,” introduced by Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman on Thursday
with little fanfare, “sets out a comprehensive policy for the detention,
interrogation and trial of suspected enemy belligerents who are believed to have
engaged in hostilities against the United States by requiring these individuals
to be held in military custody, interrogated for their intelligence value and
not provided with a Miranda warning,”
The bill does not distinguish between U.S. citizens and non-citizens, and states
that “suspected belligerents” who are “considered a “high-value
detainee” shall not be provided with a Miranda warning.”
A person is considered a “high value detainee” if they fulfill one of the
following criteria.
(1) poses a threat of an attack on civilians or civilian facilities within the
U.S. or U.S. facilities abroad; (2) poses a threat to U.S. military personnel or
U.S. military facilities; (3) potential intelligence value; (4) is a member of
al Qaeda or a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda or (5) such other matters
as the President considers appropriate.
Now that the Southern Poverty Law Center and the federal government, via the
MIAC report and innumerable other leaked documents, now consider virtually
anyone with a dissenting opinion against the state as “posing a threat,”
millions of peaceful American citizens could be swept up by this frightening
dragnet of tyranny.
However, according to the bill, an individual doesn’t even have to pose a
threat to be snatched, detained and interrogated – they can merely be deemed
to be of “potential intelligence value” or come under the vague and sweeping
mandate of “such other matters as the President considers appropriate”.
This last designation hands Obama dictator powers to have any American citizen
kidnapped, detained, and interrogated on a whim.
The only proviso that even hints at some form of check or balance is the measure
that states, “The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team must make a
preliminary determination whether the detainee is an unprivileged enemy
belligerent within 48 hours of taking detainee into custody.”
“The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team must submit its determination to
the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General after consultation with the
Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The
Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General make a final determination and
report the determination to the President and the appropriate committees of
Congress. In the case of any disagreement between the Secretary of Defense and
the Attorney General, the President will make the determination,” states the
bill.
The ACLU has expressed its vigorous opposition to the legislation, labeling it
nothing less than a “direct attack on the Constitution”.
“Indefinite detention flies in the face of American values and violates this
country’s commitment to the rule of law,” states Laura W. Murphy, Director
of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
Of course, such positions from the ACLU as well as Amnesty International will
only be used as grist for the neo-con propaganda mill about how the bill ought
to be passed in order to avoid being “soft on terrorists,” a piece of spin
still being swallowed whole by millions of conservatives who are blissfully
unaware of the fact that the apparatus of the war on terror is now being aimed
squarely at politically active American citizens.
“Torture, indefinite imprisonment, secret trials and limited staged hearings
are the stuff of cheap dictatorships,” writes Ian McColgin. “They are the
sort of idiocy we scorned in the Soviets, the Koreans and the Vietnamese. It is
astonishing that we have senators and citizens even discussing this bill which
is not a capitulation to terrorism – it’s the triumph of terrorism.”
Martin Reiner Report This Comment Date: March 20, 2010 12:53AM
S. 3081 If Passed, Will Be An Agent Provocateur Field Day Against Americans
After reading McCain’s bill S.3081, it appears apparent there is little
difference between S.3081 and “Hitler’s 1933 Discriminatory Decrees”,
except wording. While McCain’s bill does not directly suspend the Constitution
like Hitler did, S.3081 similar to Hitler (orders arrests and detainment of
innocent people without probable cause” based on suspicion they
"supported hostile activities." That will Crush Free Speech, your
Right to Express an Opinion; terrorize Innocent Americans’ right to Free
Association out of fear they might erroneously be arrested for “supporting
hostile activities against the Government.” Under S.3091, any Citizen could be
disappeared by government based on allegations of “suspicious activity” or
"supporting hostile activity" against U.S. Government. Associating
with people that support any cause could subject a Citizen to indefinite
detainment.
Should this bill pass, Americans rightfully so, will become afraid to distribute
or publish their writings, especially on the Internet that might appear to
criticize U.S. Government. S.3081 has the potential of being used as a political
weapon by U.S. Government/Police Agencies because S.3081 eliminates the
requirement Government have probable before they pick up and detain an
individual.
Should S.3081 pass, Agent provocateurs will have a field day causing the arrest
of innocent persons based only on mere suspicion. Using S.3081, Government
agents too easily can cause the arrest of writers like Hitler did, simply by
having provocateurs distribute a writer’s articles criticizing government, at
a meeting of "real potential terrorists." The Gestapo went so far to
print pamphlets and other publicans erroneously attaching someone’s name they
wanted arrested.
Mach Report This Comment Date: March 20, 2010 01:42AM
Martin Reiner, exactly........
people don't take this shit very seriously but then when it happens they bitch
and cry about it... after they're the ones that it effects directly.