Americans in the Crosshairs: NDAA Set to be Signed into Law

The out of control Obama Administration has dropped its threat to veto the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the legislation, which allows for the indefinite detention of American citizens, is set to be signed into law. The Hill reports that “The House on Wednesday afternoon approved the rule for the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), setting up an hour of debate and a vote in the House later this afternoon." The House subsequently passed the bill and it will now head to the Senate for final passage and then onto Obama's desk. While the mainstream media has largely blocked this story out, the passage of the NDAA will basically suspend the right to due process, the right to trial by a jury of an accuser's peers and the right to habeas corpus. Essentially, if the government accuses you, as an American citizen, of being a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer, you may be spending the rest of your day's in Guantanamo Bay with no legal rights. These are the chilling words of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham spoken on the Senate floor: “It is not unfair to make an American citizen account for the fact that they decided to help Al Qaeda to kill us all and hold them as long as it takes to find intelligence about what may be coming next,” remarked Graham. “And when they say, ‘I want my lawyer,' you tell them, ‘Shut up. You don't get a lawyer.'” View the video here. Unbelievably, the provisions which codify that U.S. citizens can be defined as enemy combatants and denied their civil rights was requested by the Obama Administration according to Democratic Senator Carl Levin. He said that “The language which precluded the application of Section 1031 to American citizens was in the bill that we originally approved…and the administration asked us to remove the language which says that U.S. citizens and lawful residents would not be subject to this section." Civil liberties organizations that have been paying attention to this legislation are up in arms. "By signing this defense spending bill, President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in U.S. law," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "In the past, Obama has lauded the importance of being on the right side of history, but today he is definitely on the wrong side." Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office echoed similar sentiments. She said that "If President Obama signs this bill, it will damage both his legacy and American's reputation for upholding the rule of law. The last time Congress passed indefinite detention legislation was during the McCarthy era, and President Truman had the courage to veto that bill." The NDAA states that the United States of America, our soil, is considered a battlefield in the eyes of the government - there is simply no getting around this fact. Congratulations, America. Our Congress and Executive Branch are giving us exactly what we deserve for cowering to their fear and propaganda tactics which have been used to undermine our Constitution and civil liberties for the last decade.