Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bacasper]

McCain and Lieberman's "Enemy Belligerent" Act Could Set U.S. on Path to Military Dictatorship

Glenn Greenwald calls the bill "probably the single most extremist, tyrannical and dangerous bill introduced in the Senate in the last several decades."

March 19, 2010 | On March 4th, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman introduced a bill called the "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010" that, if passed, would set this country on a course to become a military dictatorship.

The bill is only 12 pages long, but that is plenty of room to grant the president the power to order the arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment of anyone -- including a U.S. citizen -- indefinitely, on the sole suspicion that he or she is affiliated with terrorism, and on the president's sole authority as commander in chief.
...
As constitutional expert Glenn Greenwald has pointed out, "It's basically a bill designed to formally authorize what the Bush administration did to American citizen Jose Padilla -- arrest him on U.S. soil and imprison him for years in military custody with no charges." What happened to Padilla, a notorious perversion of justice in a country that claims to be a democratic standard-bearer, would thus go from being an exception to the rule itself.

As "war on terror"-era legislation goes, Greenwald calls the Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act "probably the single most extremist, tyrannical and dangerous bill introduced in the Senate in the last several decades, far beyond the horrific, habeas-abolishing Military Commissions Act." This is a sobering statement, especially given the intense controversy the MCA generated at the time of its passage, in the heady weeks preceding the 2006 midterm elections. Then-Senator Obama was one of only 34 senators who voted against it, calling it "sloppy," and expressing his wish that "cooler heads � prevail after the silly season of politics is over."

Now, however, as president, Obama has helped pave the way for such radical legislative efforts as the one introduced by McCain and Lieberman, by embracing -- and re-branding -- the military commissions he once opposed.

"Belligerents" are the new "Combatants"

Three years after Obama eloquently opposed the Military Commissions Act, the now-president signed a Military Commissions Act of his own, as part of the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill. The law, which sought to overhaul the discredited Bush-era military commissions for "alien enemy combatants," introduced what is apparently turning out to be an important new term to the counterterror lexicon: Unprivileged Enemy Belligerent, defined as "an individual who: 1) has engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners; or 2) has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners."

full article at link

[Ya-ta Boy]

What are your thoughts on this bill's chances getting through Congress?

[bacasper]

I haven't really assessed it, although nothing would surprise me. They don't usually have much trouble getting stuff through packaged and sold as "making us safer." And, something so rare these days, it has bipartisan support.

You?

[Ya-ta Boy]

McCain's being challenged from the right. This bill looks like a sop to the extremists of the far right. As long as the Democrats hold a majority of at least one house, the bill doesn't have a chance of passing.

[mises]

[bacasper]

[.38 Special]

[Fox]

Terrorists are a minimal threat to our nation. A few thousand people out of hundreds of millions have had their lives meaningfully affected by actual terrorism in a negative way. By contrast, all of us have been negatively affected by our government's response to terrorism. The last thing we need is more "protection" from terrorism.

[CentralCali]

I always get a big laugh out of people saying the US government's going to turn into a military dictatorship. They forget one very important thing: for that to happen, th e military itself would need to take over the country. That's not going to happen.

[bacasper]

[.38 Special]

[djsmnc]

It'll be like the pictures I drew in 2nd grade with the USA airplanes and ships destroying Russians. Even patriotic sharks eating the survivors!

[CentralCali]

[.38 Special]

[CentralCali]

Apparently some people think members of the military are automatons with absolutely no brains whatsoever. They're not.