Senators Voting Today On Locking Up Americans Without Charges or Trials

Armageddon Alert:

The Senate is going to vote today (or tomorrow) on whether Congress will give the president the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world.

Under several provisions* of the NDAA bill, citizens on American, Canadian or British streets (or streets anywhere) could be sent to military prisons indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. Republican sponsors say the bill is needed because America is now a battlefield.

Even Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) raised his concerns about the NDAA detention provisions during the recent Republican debate.

According to the ACLU and other sources, "The worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial provision is in S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which will be on the Senate floor on Monday. The bill was drafted in secret by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) and passed in a closed-door committee meeting, without even a single hearing."

Senator the Udall has written an amendment (called the Udall Amendment) that deletes the provisions and sets up an orderly review of detention power. The ACLU suggests you call or write your senator and urge them to vote for the Udall Amendment.

* * *

*If enacted, sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA would:

1) Explicitly authorize the federal government to indefinitely imprison without charge or trial American citizens and others picked up inside and outside the United States;

(2) Mandate military detention of some civilians who would otherwise be outside of military control, including civilians picked up within the United States itself; and

(3) Transfer to the Department of Defense core prosecutorial, investigative, law enforcement, penal, and custodial authority and responsibility now held by the Department of Justice.

Photo by The _kid_cl, Creative Commons license

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