At the end of 2011, President Obama quietly signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Buried within the text of this bill was a chilling codicil which would, in effect, permit the U.S. Military to indefinitely detain any individual, who:
"...was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the
Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against
the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who
has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such
hostilities in aid of such enemy forces." (HR 112-329, Part 1, Sec. 1021(b)(2))
So what constitutes a "belligerent act"? Does it have to necessarily be have to be an act of terrorism, or merely speaking out in protest of an act of the U.S. Government? How should we interpret this?
For additional commentary on how this section of the bill might be interpreted, there is a fairly detailed breakdown of this section of this bill at the Tenth Amendment Center.
No comments:
Post a Comment