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Congress Proposes Bill to Allow Worldwide War ... Including INSIDE the U.S.
Americans who have been paying attention are outraged that Bush lied us into Iraq by making up false claims about weapons of mass destruction and pretending that Saddam Hussein had a hand in 9/11.
Many are disgusted that Obama got us into a war in Libya without Congressional authorization.
But as the ACLU noted
yesterday, Congress is going even further ... proposing handing
permanent, world-wide war-making powers to the president - including the
ability to make war within the United States:
A hugely important provision for Congress to authorize a new worldwide war has been tucked away inside the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill was marked up by members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) last Wednesday that poured into Thursday morning (2:45 a.m. to be exact).
A couple of minutes past midnight, Rep. John Garamendi
(D-Calif.) offered an amendment to strike Sec. 1034 — the new
authorization for worldwide war provision — from the NDAA. Visibly
angry that such a large sweeping provision had not yet had any public
hearing whatsoever, he vigorously characterized it as a very broad
declaration of war.
Rep. Garamendi was very concerned by the
limitless geographic boundaries of the provision. Essentially, it
would enable the U.S. to use military force anywhere in the world (including within the U.S.) in search of terrorists.
***
While
a new authorization for worldwide war has had its first public
debate, it unfortunately only lasted a hair over 10 minutes and
occurred after midnight.
Though it is a very troubling expansion
of war authority, it has been lingering for more than three years as a
“sleeper provision,” and it is finally getting the attention of some
members of Congress. We hope that further debate in Congress in the
weeks ahead will allow for a more in-depth examination of unchecked
authority to wage worldwide war, and what the outcomes of such a
provision will yield.
As I noted in 2008:
An article in the Army Times reveals that the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team will be redeployed from Iraq to domestic operations within the United States.
The
unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the
Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports
this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a
dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit
may be called upon to help with "civil unrest" and "crowd control".
The soldiers are learning to use so-called "nonlethal weapons" designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.
This violates posse comitatus and the Constitution. But, hey, we're in a "national emergency", so who cares, right?
(We're still in a declared state of national emergency).
I noted a couple of months later:
Everyone knows that deploying 20,000 troops on U.S. soil violates Posse Comitatus and the Constitution.
And everyone understands that staging troops within the U.S. to "help out with civil unrest and crowd control" increases the danger of overt martial law.
But no one is asking an obvious question: Does the government's own excuse for deploying the troops make any sense?
Other Encroachments On Civil Rights Under Obama
As bad as Bush was, the truth is that, in many ways, freedom and constitutional rights are under attack even more than during the Bush years.
Obama has presided over the most draconian crackdown on leaks in our history -- even more so than Nixon.
As Marjorie Cohen - professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and past president of the National Lawyers Guild - writes at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy:
Army
Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is facing court-martial for leaking
military reports and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, is being held in
solitary confinement in Quantico brig in Virginia. Each night, he is
forced to strip naked and sleep in a gown made of coarse material. He
has been made to stand naked in the morning as other inmates walked by
and looked. As journalist Lance Tapley documents in his chapter on
torture in the supermax prisons in The United States and Torture,
solitary confinement can lead to hallucinations and suicide; it is
considered to be torture. Manning's forced nudity amounts to
humiliating and degrading treatment, in violation of U.S. and
international law.
Nevertheless, President Barack Obama
defended Manning's treatment, saying, "I've actually asked the
Pentagon whether or not the procedures . . . are appropriate. They
assured me they are." Obama's deference is reminiscent of President
George W. Bush, who asked "the most senior legal officers in the U.S.
government" to review the interrogation techniques. "They assured me
they did not constitute torture," Bush said.
***
After State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley criticized Manning's
conditions of confinement, the White House forced him to resign.
Crowley had said the restrictions were "ridiculous, counterproductive
and stupid." It appears that Washington is more intent on sending a
message to would-be whistleblowers than on upholding the laws that
prohibit torture and abuse.
***
Torture is
commonplace in countries strongly allied with the United States. Vice
President Omar Suleiman, Egypt's intelligence chief, was the
lynchpin for Egyptian torture when the CIA sent prisoners to Egypt in
its extraordinary rendition program. A former CIA agent observed, "If
you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If
you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want
someone to disappear - never to see them again - you send them to
Egypt." In her chapter in The United States and Torture, New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer cites Egypt as the most common destination for suspects rendered by the United States.
As I pointed out in March:
Former
constitutional law teacher Glenn Greenwald says that - in his defense
of state secrecy, illegal spying, preventative detention, harassment
of whistleblowers and other issues of civil liberties - Obama is even
worse than Bush.
Indeed, Obama has authorized "targeted assassinations" against U.S. citizens. Even Bush didn't openly do something so abhorrent to the rule of law.
Obama is trying to expand spying well beyond the Bush administration's programs. Indeed, the Obama administration is arguing that citizens should never be able to sue the government for illegal spying.
Obama's indefinite detention policy is an Orwellian nightmare, which will create more terrorists.
Furthermore
- as hard as it is for Democrats to believe - the disinformation and
propaganda campaigns launched by Bush have only increased under Obama. See this and this.
And as I pointed out last year:
According to Department of Defense training manuals, protest is considered "low-level terrorism". And see this, this and this.
An FBI memo also labels peace protesters as "terrorists".
***
A 2003 FBI memo describes protesters' use of videotaping as an "intimidation" technique, even though - as the ACLU
points out - "Most mainstream demonstrators often use videotape
during protests to document law enforcement activity and, more
importantly, deter police from acting outside the law." The FBI
appears to be objecting to the use of cameras to document unlawful
behavior by law enforcement itself.
The Internet has been labeled
as a breeding ground for terrorists, with anyone who questions the
government's versions of history being especially equated with
terrorists.
Government agencies such as FEMA are allegedly teaching that the Founding Fathers should be considered terrorists.
The government is also using anti-terrorism laws to keep people from learning what pollutants are in their own community. See this, this, this and this.
Claims of "national security"
are also used to keep basic financial information - such as who got
bailout money - secret. That might not bode for particularly warm and
friendly treatment for someone persistently demanding the release of
such information.
The state of Missouri tried to label
as terrorists current Congressman Ron Paul and his supporters, former
Congressman Bob Barr, libertarians in general, anyone who holds gold,
and a host of other people.
And according to a law school professor and former president of the National Lawyers Guild, pursuant to the Military Commissions Act:
Anyone who ... speaks out against the government's policies could be declared an "unlawful enemy combatant" and imprisoned indefinitely. That includes American citizens.
Obama has refused to reverse these practices.
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all hail the NWO.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=403d90d6-7a61-41ac-8cef-...
It's dated, now you understand the what and the who of the situation. It's only a question of when.
Another gift Bush gave us. Bush stole more freedoms from America than any other president.
We get searched to go to arena events. Our phone calls are wire tapped. Our financial transactions recorded.
Those who give up freedom for a little security, deserve neither. I often say, We are Japan now.
Maybe I should say, We are Communist now. Your Canadian agreement was done on Feb. 2008.
Pinch me please. Feels like this is not the country I was raised in. We work for the Bankster Cartel.
That's where much of our tax money went. That's not capitalism, it's a shameful crime by some lobby called the FED.
FYI, the updated NDAA is here,
http://armedservices.house.gov/index.cfm/full-committee-mark
The AUMF filing referred to (I think) is here,
www.wcl.american.edu/nimj/documents/BatesRevisedDetAuthFINAL.pdf
It's a stretch to say this authorizes worldwar... but I've seen gov't lawyers stretch so who knows.
OM
what the fuck are we waiting for.....this is definetly worth the cost....the rest of of the world is hoping for the american spirit to rise up and defeat these bastards....what are we waiting for......i'm in....when and were?
Waiting for the soma to stop.
Detox will take awhile. Please wait seated.
The Revolutionary meeting will be held immeeedeeately aftur speling class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my-gEdtsJ3Y
By the time the pathetic American shit for brains get's done waving Old Glory, while serving http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9PVfH7sZIo&feature=related the U.N. Blue Light Special of the Great ''New World Order'' Wal Mart of China, on sale now for Zero Interest-$666QEternity, the 5th Ave 666 Citi Bank Urban Dance Squad will be singing ''The Devil'' in a blue prison dress with an RFID up their Yin and Yang ...inside a black hole.