MEDIA ROOTS — Apparently, militarised platoons of riot cops repressing peaceful protesters with police brutality and intimidation wasn’t enough. 

As the Occupy Movement has been successful in powerfully impacting the U.S. body politic, Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Senator Carl Levin have secretly written, in a closed-door session, a provision into this year’s Department of Defense budgeting bill, which would authorise Presidential use of the U.S. military against its own people by being able to arrest anyone, anywhere in the world, and hold them indefinitely without charges. 

This provision to S. 1867 currently on the Senate floor would expedite a U.S. President’s ability to further repress First Amendment activities beyond the exemptions already built into the Posse Comitatus Act and the powers granted to a U.S. President within the Insurrection Act of 1807.  Obama has claimed he’ll veto the bill, but it’s hard to imagine him vetoing the yearly budgeting bill for the DOD. 

If it’s passed, Obama will have a greater ability to brutally crackdown against dissent.  We’ve seen this coming: in 2008, the Military was deployed against peaceful protesters during the Democratic and National Conventions, as protests hit record highs of discontent.  With the Occupy Movement posing a serious challenge to business as usual as we approach the 2012 election year, the Senate has already drafted a pre-emptive strike against dissent.  Learn more about the bill and how you can stop it below.

MR

***

ACLU — The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president—and every future president — the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world. Even Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) raised his concerns about the NDAA detention provisions during last night’s Republican debate. The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself.

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.

I know it sounds incredible. New powers to use the military worldwide, even within the United States? Hasn’t anyone told the Senate that Osama bin Laden is dead, that the president is pulling all of the combat troops out of Iraq and trying to figure out how to get combat troops out of Afghanistan too? And American citizens and people picked up on American or Canadian or British streets being sent to military prisons indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. Really? Does anyone think this is a good idea? And why now?

The answer on why now is nothing more than election season politics. The White House, the Secretary of Defense, and the Attorney General have all said that the indefinite detention provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act are harmful and counterproductive. The White House has even threatened a veto. But Senate politics has propelled this bad legislation to the Senate floor.

But there is a way to stop this dangerous legislation. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) is offering the Udall Amendment that will delete the harmful provisions and replace them with a requirement for an orderly Congressional review of detention power. The Udall Amendment will make sure that the bill matches up with American values.

In support of this harmful bill, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) explained that the bill will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield” and people can be imprisoned without charge or trial “American citizen or not.” Another supporter, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) also declared that the bill is needed because “America is part of the battlefield.”

The solution is the Udall Amendment; a way for the Senate to say no to indefinite detention without charge or trial anywhere in the world where any president decides to use the military. Instead of simply going along with a bill that was drafted in secret and is being jammed through the Senate, the Udall Amendment deletes the provisions and sets up an orderly review of detention power. It tries to take the politics out and put American values back in.

In response to proponents of the indefinite detention legislation who contend that the bill “applies to American citizens and designates the world as the battlefield,” and that the “heart of the issue is whether or not the United States is part of the battlefield,” Sen. Udall disagrees, and says that we can win this fight without worldwide war and worldwide indefinite detention.

The senators pushing the indefinite detention proposal have made their goals very clear that they want an okay for a worldwide military battlefield, that even extends to your hometown. That is an extreme position that will forever change our country.

Now is the time to stop this bad idea. Please urge your senators to vote YES on the Udall Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.

***

Photo by Abby Martin