Back in January, Pulitzer winning journalist Chris Hedges sued President Obama and the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act, specifically challenging the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force or, the provision that authorizes military detention for people deemed to have “substantially supported” al Qaeda, the Taliban or “associated forces.” Hedges called the president’s action allowing indefinite detention, which was signed into law with little opposition from either party “unforgivable, unconstitutional and exceedingly dangerous.” He attacked point blank the civil rights farce that is the never-ending “war on terror” conducted by both parties, targeting whom exactly is unclear, but certainly attaining ever more intense retaliation from foreigners such as the furious attacks against the US consulates in Egypt and Libya. Continue reading
NDAA. National Defense Authorization Act
What Ever Happened to “Extremism in Defense of Liberty is No Vice”? | Reason
…The prevention of such a grotesque outrage is written into the Constitution – in Article I, Section 9, which prohibits suspending the right of habeas corpus except in cases of rebellion or invasion. Nevertheless, earlier this year Congress passed, and President Obama signed, the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes the indefinite detention, without charge or trial, of American citizens by the U.S. military.
Taking a page out of George W. Bush’s book, Obama included a signing statement indicating that he would disregard the parts of the law he does not like, including the detention provision. But his forbearance, while welcome, does not constrain future presidents. (It does not even constrain him, for that matter; he can change his mind at any time.)… via Reason
The Grey Enigma 