While Public & Media Focused on 2nd Amendment, 5th Amendment Quietly Dismantled

February 10, 2013 09:00 AM
Daniel Ellsberg on the NDAA: "The U.S. Government Sees the Public (As An) Enemy of The State"
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By Julianna Forlano

Last week was a landmark week for the erosion of your civil liberties. While mouth breathing Americans joined with doomsday preppers and semi-automatic wielding quail hunters to dominate the airwaves with outrage over the perceived loss of their rights under the 2nd Amendment, the US government pressed ahead with measures that quietly dismantle the 5th.

On Monday, NBC News published an unclassified Justice Department document indicating that suspected al-Qaeda operators or their “associated forces” may be lawfully targeted and assassinated, even if they are US citizens, and even if they are not thought to be actively plotting an attack.

Then on Wednesday, the Obama Administration was back in court to defend its right to use the United States military against its own citizens. Section 1021 (b) (2) of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed by Obama, gives the military the right to arrest and indefinitely detain US citizens without due process of law.

The exact wording of the provision is as follows:

“A person 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”

Plaintiffs in the case Hedges v. Obama (as in journalist and author Chris Hedges) argue that several terms including “substantially supported”, “associated forces” and “belligerent act” are overly vague. If they wanted to, the U.S. government could interpret them to include journalists who report on terrorist groups and political activists critical of the Obama administration’s policies.

The provision also states:

“Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.”

MORE plus VIDEO OF ELLSBERG INTERVIEW AT THIS LINK:

http://crooksandliars.com/julianna-forlano/daniel-ellsberg-ndaa-us-governmen