David Rudoi Esq.
Jan 2, 2012
While most of us were out celebrating the New Year, President Obama quietly signed The National Defense Authorization Act, (NDAA). The NDAA codifies into law the indefinite detention of “terrorists” named in the act as “Belligerents” without a right to trial, habeas corpus, or a right to counsel. Furthermore, the NDAA authorizes the U.S. Military to carry out domestic anti-terrorism operations while on United States soil. American Citizens who fall into the broad definition of “belligerents” may now be detained without any of the rights guaranteed in the Bill Of Rights.
President Obama claims that he will not use his new powers granted in the NDAA, and threatened to veto the Act until Congress added provisions that took the ultimate power to detain suspects from the military hands and put it into the President’s. However, this change is hardly enough security for those who fear that the Bill Of Rights has just been shredded. The fact that the NDAA was signed into law on New Year’s Eve only furthers the perception that the government has attempted to sneak in a law that essentially nullifies civil liberties, which have existed in this country for hundreds of years.