No self-respecting progressive blog can let pass without comment the further and seemingly casual dismantling of our constitutionally protected civil liberties, as the Senate (voting 86-13) and the House (voting 283-136) passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). All four members of the Rhode Island congressional delegation voted in favor of passage. This 1800 page bill includes a provision that many critics suggest will allow the U.S. military to arrest and indefinitely jail any U.S. citizen on U.S. soil on the suspicion that he or she is involved with terrorism, however terrorism is defined. Speaking to Eugene Emery of the Providence Journal (12.18) Senator Sheldon Whitehouse agreed that “vigorous congressional oversight now will be required.” Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, does not find this very comforting, “For the first time, our country will be explicitly authorizing the indefinite detention of American citizens without trial. . . This is all being done in the name of fighting an increasingly amorphous war on terrorism and, in doing so, it undermines some of the most fundamental values of this country.”
Eleven protesters were arrested Monday night during a march on the White House protesting the NDAA. Constitutional and civil rights litigator and Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald debunks 3 myths concerning this egregious legislation. (Jon Stewart opened with this issue on December 7th with a segment called “Arrested Development”.)