Friday, December 16, 2011

Indefinite detention without charges or trial could be authorized

The government should not have the power to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone inside the U.S. without charges or a trial. This ambiguous and potentially dangerous provision in the National Defense Authorization Act should be vetoed in the interest of a free society.

3 comments:

  1. I've looked at sections 1031 and 1032 of 2012's NDAA. Those sections specifically define "terrorist" as being al Qaeda, the Taliban or anyone conspiring with those groups. The act covers their war time detention and transfer. I'm at a loss as to what the ACLU is talking about.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A number of people have questioned whether or not the ACLU is over-reacting. The statute seems somewhat vague and unclear. By "war time" do you mean after a congressional declaration of war? I don't think the statute requires that. Should someone in the U.S. whom the government suspects is conspiring with al Qaeda lose their usual rights to due process?

    ReplyDelete
  3. When congress authorizes the use of military force to counter dangerous public threats, foreign and/or domestic, all bets are off regarding the bad actor(s)’ and their accomplices civil liberties.

    ReplyDelete