Jan 18 2012
Chris Hedges Sues Government Over Indefinite Detention
Veteran journalist, foreign correspondent and best-selling author, Chris Hedges, has filed a federal suit against the Obama Administration for provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act that allows indefinite detention of American citizens. The Obama Administration had initially opposed the bill which is also referred to as the Homeland Battlefield Bill, but reversed its position when Congress passed it. President Obama, who was trained as a Constitutional Lawyer, signed the bill into law on New Year’s Eve, saying “I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.” Obama also said, “I want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.” However, even if the President keeps his promise, the new law empowers all Presidents, current, and future, to imprison Americans on suspicion of terrorism, detain them indefinitely, deny them habeas corpus, and even transport them to off-site facilities. The NDAA was opposed by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, whom Chris Hedges is also suing, and a number of other military and intelligence officials. Hedges, who in his long career as a foreign correspondent has met and associated with many foreign organizations, writes this week, “I have had dinner more times than I can count with people whom this country brands as terrorists. But that does not make me one.” The lawsuit is based on the fact that being a journalist requires Hedges to undertake activities that could, according to the NDAA’s vague language, possibly classify him as a person facing such indefinite detention. It is also based on violations of the first and fifth amendments, according to Hedges. In fact, the NDAA, which takes effect on March 3rd, is disturbingly reminiscent of the 1950 Internal Security Act, passed by Congress over Harry Truman’s veto, which enshrined McCarthyism. Writing for Truthdig, Chris Hedges suspects that “the real purpose of this bill is to thwart internal, domestic movements that threaten the corporate state….it passed because the corporations, seeing the unrest in the streets, knowing that things are about to get much worse, worrying that the Occupy movement will expand, do not trust the police to protect them. They want to be able to call in the Army. And now they can.”
GUEST: Chris Hedges, Senior Fellow at the Nation Institute and a columnist for Truthdig.com, veteran foreign correspondent and author of several books. His latest book is called The World As it Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress
Read Chris Hedges’ article here: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_im_suing_barack_obama_20120116/
4 Responses to “Chris Hedges Sues Government Over Indefinite Detention”
Great news, retweeted.
One correction: A piece of legislation DOES NOT give the government any authorities we didn’t already give it. They always implies that it does, but to be valid we must first cede the authority to them. They get their authority from us, and not the other way ’round.
If people understood this, they wouldn’t startle at every bit of fraudulent legislation our public servants have the audacity to come out with. They’d know better, and refuse to abide by it. Then they’d do what Chris is doing, and deal with the bastards in law. Treason is still a capitol offense.
Be well,
– Satori
Thank You. AT this rate we won’t have elections after 2-3 terms. We will be America the corporation with CEO’s.
Since the document below talks about abolishing the government, it is a terrorist and seditious document under the new NDAA law. It must be stricken from the history books and never repeated under pain of indefinite detention:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to ABOLISH it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” –Declaration of Independence
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