Friday 6 January 2012

the NDAA H. R.1540 signed by barack obama does not specifically exempt US citizens from indefinite military detention without trial


the whole problem is that the legislation is not written in "plain english", it's vague and is written in a way so that the administration/military can interpret it in any way that suits them best. section 1021 is the key issue. it's not long at all so read it for yourself and see how many different ways you could interpret those words.

page 265 of the pdf, section 1021.

so here's my attempt at plain english:
(a) military can detain anyone defined in section b
(b) people who can be detained:
1. A person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored those responsible for those attack
(THIS IS PRETTY PLAIN, BUT HERE'S WHERE IT GETS VAGUE AND SCARY)
2. A person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

define:
* "associated forces" (could mean anything they want it to)
* "hostilities" (could mean anything they want it to, e.g. even criticism? and note "or its coalition partners"
* "beligerent act" (could mean anything)
* "directly supported" (could mean anything)


 there is no clause that excludes americans from military detention without trial, otherwise it would have read "non-US citizen" instead of "a person". paragraph (e) pretends to appear like it exempts american citizens:

"
(e) AUTHORITIES.—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.
"
all it says is that it doesnt affect existing law or authorities concerning the detention of american citizens or *anyone* (citizen or not) captured or arrested in the US.

section 1022 also pretends to appear to be an exemption of military detention for US citizens:
"
RESIDENT ALIENS.— 
(1) UNITED STATES CITIZENS.—The requirement to detain 
a person in military custody under this section does not extend 
to citizens of the United State
"

but all it does is exempt US citizens from the *requirement* of military detention. it's not *required*, but it could still be *legal*.


http://www.facebook.com/notes/nick-humphrey/my-attempt-to-explain-the-ndaa-scary-part-in-plain-english/10150571833737292

update: i found this article about a US citizen, allegedly tied to al qaeda who was assassinated, along with his 16 year old son--without trial:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki

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