Category: Military

The US is sleepwalking into becoming a police state, where, like a pre-Magna Carta monarch, the president can lock up anyone

By Naomi Wolf / guardian.co.uk / Published on Feb. 29, 2012

Yes, the worst things you may have heard about the National Defense Authorization Act, which has formally ended 254 years of democracy in the United States of America, and driven a stake through the heart of the bill of rights, are all really true. The act passed with large margins in both the House and the Senate on the last day of last year – even as tens of thousands of Americans were frantically begging their representatives to secure Americans’ habeas corpus rights in the final version.

It does indeed – contrary to the many flatout-false form letters I have seen that both senators and representatives sent to their constituents, misleading them about the fact that the NDAA destroys their due process rights. Under the act, anyone can be described as a ‘belligerent”.

Passed by both Congressional chambers in December, signed into law by President Obama on December 31st, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 goes into effect today, March 1, 2012.

This is the Act that allows the indefinite detention of American citizens on American soil by our government. It is the Act that allows the US military to be used as law enforcement inside the borders of the country – for the first time since the Civil War. The Act effectively disembowels the Bill of Rights – the Charter of our basic and fundamental rights as American citizens.

From now until the worst of its language is overruled or repealed, ours is not a nation ruled by those laws and provisions of rights laid down over two centuries ago, but a nation ruled by the whims of whomever is in the White House. Welcome to the end of the rule of law in this nation.

By Michael Boldin / Tenth Amendment Center / February 29, 2012

Today, the Virginia Senate took a firm stand in support of liberty, the Constitution for the United States, and the Constitution of Virginia by voting in favor of House Bill 1160 (HB1160), the “NDAA Nullification Act.”

The final vote was 39-1.

After a motion to recommit (delay until next year) went down to the wire before being rejected yesterday (report here), groups across the political spectrum activated in support of the legislation, which codifies in law that no agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia – including defense forces and national guard troops, will comply with or assist the federal government in any way under it’s newly claimed powers to arrest and detain without due process.

By Stop NDAA

A lawsuit against the United States government was filed this week on behalf of a group of plaintiffs that includes Pulitzer prize-winning author Chris Hedges, Professor Noam Chomsky, the Pentagon Papers’ Daniel Ellsberg, an Icelandic Parliamentarian, and three women activists engaged in work they believe will put them in imminent danger under the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Defendants in the suit include President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Senator John McCain, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi and others.

Attorneys in the case Carl Mayer and Bruce Afran also asked Southern District New York Court Judge Katherine Forrest to grant a Temporary Restraining Order to enjoin the provisions of the NDAA that appear to contravene the US Constitution.

In tandem with this filing, an international democracy advocacy group and progressive civil liberties group have teamed up to conduct a campaign in support of a lawsuit they hope attracts hundreds of thousands of supporters – and thousands of potential plaintiffs. RevolutionTruth, a small, international, all-volunteer group dedicated to defending democratic rights, and Demand Progress, a million-member civil liberties group, are leading the charge to build a broad, transpartisan coalition of supporters of this lawsuit and to provide a platform for potential plaintiffs to be screened.

Editor: The following is the text that was handed out by the Save the Bill of Rights coalition on February 11th at their rally in front of the State Democrats’ Convention at the Convention Center in downtown San Diego.

REPEAL THE NDAA – The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012

During last December, both the US Senate and the House of Representatives passed this Act and President Obama signed it into law on December 31, 2011. It is now the law of the land.

The Act includes provisions that would allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens without any recourse to legal interventions or civil rights if accused of a “belligerent act” or any terror-related offense.

These provisions mean that anyone of us – or any group of us – could be imprisoned without arraignment, without access to a lawyer, without access to habeas corpus, without a jury trial, without due process – without the protection of the Bill of Rights, our basic, fundamental rights as citizens.

Have you been following the story about the killing of an unarmed Camp Pendleton Marine by an Orange County Sheriff, a little more than a week ago – up in San Clemente? It reportedly happened at 4:45 in the morning on February 7th.

The basic story line from the Sheriffs is that because Sgt. Manny Loggins was acting irrationally and endangering his two daughters who were in the back seat of the family’s SUV, a deputy alongside the vehicle shot him to prevent him from driving away and causing harm to the girls, aged 9 and 14.

Loggins had supposedly crashed his GMC Yukon through a gate in the parking lot of San Clemente High School early in the morning. Reportedly he then refused to comply with a deputy that confronted him; then he “disappears” into the darkness and upon his return, he got back into the vehicle and again refusing orders, was trying to drive away when he was shot. The girls, allegedly, told sheriffs that dad was “acting oddly”.

Right off the top, there are so many problems with this story, that when I first read it last week, I earmarked my brain to follow it as it developed. An unarmed Marine shot right in front of his daughters?

And develop it did. Let’s see if we can follow its twists and turns:

The U-T first picked the story up on Thursday, Feb. 9th – two days after the incident.

When Power is Unaccountable

by Brian J. Trautman / CounterPunch / Originally published Jan. 18, 2012

Each year, Congress authorizes the budget of the Department of Defense through a National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA of 2012, however, is unlike any previous ones. This year’s legislation contains highly controversial provisions that empower the Armed Forces to engage in civilian law enforcement and to selectively suspend due process and habeas corpus, as well as other rights guaranteed by the 5th and 6th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, for terror suspects apprehended on U.S. soil. The final version of the bill passed the House on December 14, the Senate the following day (ironically, the 220th birthday of the Bill of Rights). It was signed into law by President Obama on New Year’s Eve. With his signature, for the first time since the Internal Security Act of 1950 and the dark days of the McCarthy era that followed, our government has codified the power of indefinite detention into law.

Activists from around San Diego County demonstrated on Friday, February 3rd, against both Democrat Susan Davis and Republican Duncan Hunter for their support of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 – the bill signed into law by President Obama on the last day of 2011.

The Act allows the government to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens without charges or trials. Demonstrators staged simultaneous protests outside the offices of Davis and Hunter, both San Diego County legislators in the House of Representatives, who voted for the original bill.

On Adams Avenue, where Davis has her San Diego office, nearly 40 people rallied, waved signs – calling on Davis to either “repeal the NDAA or resign!” And in the El Cajon industrial park where Hunter has his office, another two dozen demonstrators called on Hunter to resign or get rid of the NDAA.

Several members of one of San Diego County tea party factions joined progressives at Hunter’s office site. This reflects the fact that both sides of the political spectrum oppose the NDAA.

Groups Claim National Marine Fisheries Service Fail to Protect Thousands of Whales, Dolphins, Sea Lions and Other Animal Life From U.S. Navy Warfare Training Exercises Along the West Coast

By Ed Joyce / KPBS / January 26, 2012

A coalition of conservation and American Indian groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service Thursday, Jan. 26, over the use Navy’s use of sonar and other training exercises. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.

It claims the National Marine Fisheries Service failed to protect thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions from U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington.

By Marjorie Cohn / ZNet / Januay 16, 2012

Travelers to Cuba and music lovers are familiar with the song “Guantanamera”— literally, the girl from Guantánamo. With lyrics by José Martí, the father of Cuban independence, Guantanamera is probably the most widely known Cuban song.

But Guantánamo is even more famous now for its U.S. military prison. Where “Guantanamera” is a powerful expression of the beauty of Cuba, “Gitmo” has become a powerful symbol of human rights violations—so much so that Amnesty International described it as “the gulag of our times.”

That description can be traced to January 2002, when the base received its first 20 prisoners in shackles. General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned they were “very dangerous people who would gnaw hydraulic lines in the back of a C-17 to bring it down.” We now know that a large portion of the 750 plus men and boys held there posed no threat to the United States. In fact, only five percent were captured by the United States; most were picked up by the Northern Alliance, Pakistani intelligence officers, or tribal warlords, and many were sold for cash bounties.

By Nadin Abbott / East County Magazine / Jan. 12, 2012

January 12, 2012 (San Diego)—U.S. Army Master Sergeant Jay Polk has reportedly been killed overseas while on active duty with U.S. special forces, according to friends and family in San Diego, where he had been living recently.

During a candlelight memorial service held this evening at the Civic Center Plaza, one mourner observed, “Jay was a Cavalryman, he was a Master Sergeant, and he knew how to take care of people.” The service was attended by local veterans, occupy members, and friends of the fallen soldier.

Word of Polk’s death came as a shock to local members of Occupy San Diego, where Polk was known as “Chef” from the early days, helping to prepare and serve 500 to 1,000 meals a day for homeless people and Occupy members—anyone who needed a meal.

NEW NEW UPDATE from 1/12/12: A reporter from a local news website who has been researching this story, says this in an email this morning: “He [Jay] died in the line of duty and what he was doing is supper, duper classified,…”

NEW UPDATE from 1/11/12: There is research still going on over this case about whether Jay Polk was killed or not. It is still possibly true that he was killed. To speculate why the DoD has not publicized his death yet, we understand that in certain black ops where lives are still in danger, info is carefully squeezed out – or not at all – until it’s over.

UPDATE FROM EDITOR: Unfortunately for all involved, there have been some real questions raised as to the validity of Jay’s death. Our original source was within Occupy San Diego, but who is now having second thoughts themselves. Their source was reportedly a member of Jay’s family. Others have been making calls and have found NO confirmation of his death, either at the DoD site, Jay’s hometown, there’s no funeral home, no obituary, no report of his death except via this family member. And that person is not returning calls.

Jay Polk – presente! uh, wait …

Sergeant Jay Polk was (maybe) killed while on active duty in the US Army.