You have to give props to John McCain and Joe Lieberman, there fear knows no bounds. They have introduced a piece of legislation, that has the potential to be the next precursor to changing America from a democracy, to a dictatorship. Why would these 2 Republicans hand Barack power, that could "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"?
Is this good news for John McCain?
In a bill that is 12 pages long(short enough for Republicans), these 2 "fearmeisters" have introduced a bill that is, according to Glen Greenwald, "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."
It's kind of funny, Barack Obama was one of the 34 senators who voted against the MOA act, and now as President he'll have the choice to either veto or sign this legislation.
But does Barack strike you as the type who would have no problem expanding the MIC, and would also help the process of driving America into a military dictatorship?
The act is titled, "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010" and is defined as follows:
To provide for the interrogation and detention of enemy belligerents who commit hostile acts against the United States, to establish certain limitations on the prosecution of such belligerents for such acts, and for other purposes.
Here is the link to the actual bill. You'd have to wonder where the outrage is about this, because it opens up a whole new can of worms in the forgotten name of terrorism. Because even if you provide support to these supposed hostiles, you can also be detained indefinitely, while being "interrogated."
You can forget about the old term "alien enemy combatants," because this bill defines our new enemy as being an "Unprivileged Enemy Belligerent", which they define as: "1) 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." And this includes you and me.
The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder this month, "A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity."
SEC. 5. DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL OF UNPRIVILEGED ENEMY BELLIGERENTS.
1An individual, including a citizen of the United States, determined to be an unprivileged enemy belligerent under section 3(c)(2) in a manner which satisfies Article 5 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War may be detained without criminal charges and without trial for the duration of hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners in which the individual has engaged, or which the individual has purposely and materially supported, consistent with the law of war and any authorization for the use of military force provided by Congress pertaining to such hostilities.
I found out about this at AlterNet, the Senate bill is here again if you missed it.