PETITION CLOSED

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The President of the United States: No to Indefinite Military Detention of U.S. Citizens/Worldwide War Powers.
  1. Signatures
    154 out of 250,000
    Petitioning
    1. The President of the United States (+ 3 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • The President of the United States
      • The U.S. Senate
      • The U.S. House of Representatives
      • President Obama
  2. Created By
    C. G.
    S, CA
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

Detention Provisions 1031 & 1032 attached to the National Defense Authorization Act 2012.

Our Civil Rights and Safety as the People of the United States along with the Free People of the World are in grave danger of being compromised. We are in danger of violence, indefinite detentions, and imprisonment without evidence or charge from the Military and the Executive branch under which it acts should the National Defense Authorization Act with these detention provisions be signed into reality by President Obama.
The U.S. Senate has done the unthinkable: changing detention laws to imprison people — including Americans living in the United States itself — indefinitely and without charge. They have done so by voting to keep sections 1031 & 1032 of the NDAA. These detention provisions attached to the NDAA were drafted in secrecy by Senator Carl Levine and Senator John McCain and now it must pass only the President's desk to become reality in our lives.
The Defense Authorization bill continues with troubling provisions that would give the President — and all future presidents — the authority to indefinitely imprison people, without charge or trial, both abroad and inside the United States and would include military detention of civilians who would otherwise be outside of military control. This would give dangerous & unprecedented powers to the Executive Branch in blatant violation of the Separation of Powers. These detention provisions sections 1031 & 1032 would be enable the most  blatant & serious violations of the Constitution & Bill of Rights in U.S. History if enacted.The indefinite detention without charge or trial provisions are so harmful that the Obama White House has threatened to veto the bill if they are not removed from it. Urge President Obama to protect the Citizens of the United States from potential Military agression and from this Treason From Within. The implications are clear. Tell President Obama our Democracy is at stake and, should these provisions pass, it would clear the way for a Totalitarian/Dictatorial State. Tell President Obama to put a stop to this. Urge President Obama to do the right thing and uphold his promise to veto the 2012 NDAA containing these apalling provisions.

From ACLU.org: Don’t be confused by anyone claiming that the indefinite detention legislation does not apply to American citizens. It does. There is an exemption for American citizens from the mandatory detention requirement (section 1032 of the bill), but no exemption for American citizens from the authorization to use the military to indefinitely detain people without charge or trial (section 1031 of the bill). So, the result is that, under the bill, the military has the power to indefinitely imprison American citizens, but it does not have to use its power unless ordered to do so. But you don’t have to believe us. Instead, read what one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Lindsey Graham said about it on the Senate floor: “1031, the statement of authority to detain, does apply to American citizens and it designates the world as the battlefield, including the homeland.” There you have it — indefinite military detention of American citizens without charge or trial.

Last Note: Not only does do the provisions seek to extend the Battlefield worldwide but create one in its own soil, against its own citizens! In an unsettling move to keep these detention provisions in the NDAA, the Senate branch of government has effectively declared war on its own citizens! According to these provisions, and if passed, anyone under "suspicion" including Citizens of the U.S. can be detained & imprisoned without trial by the Military indefinitely and without charge!  It would not be Federal or State prison but a Military prison with its own separate codes & the same conditions that apply to Guantanamo Bay Prison...involving U.S. citizens!

Our democracy is in danger of being rendered useless if these provisions pass and would clear the way for a Totalitarian/Dictatorship State. It is all the more urgent to demand President Obama to Uphold his Promise to Veto the NDAA containing these provisions.

 

 

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Oppose and Veto NDAA with detention provisions sections 1031 & 1032.

Dear President Obama,

I strongly urge you to Oppose and Veto the National Defense Authorization Act with the detention provisions sections 1031 & 1032 for the Fiscal year 2012.

Our Civil Rights & Safety as The People of the United States and The People of the Free World are under grave danger of direct assault by these appalling detention provisions (which were drafted in secrecy) attached to the National Defense Authorization Act. These provisions greatly compromise our safety, and as such, we are under greater danger from the powers of government & corporate influence within than ever before, more than any current threat from without.
If enacted, sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA would:

(1) Explicitly authorize the federal government to indefinitely imprison without charge or trial American citizens and others picked up inside and outside the United States;

(2) Mandate military detention of some civilians who would otherwise be outside of military control, including civilians picked up within the United States itself; and

(3) Transfer to the Department of Defense core prosecutorial, investigative, law enforcement, penal, and custodial authority and responsibility now held by the Department of Justice.

These provisions in the NDAA are inconsistent with fundamental American values embodied in the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the the Land.

In this critical hour we urge you to stand by the citizens you represent and protect their Constitutional Rights_the very Rights that ensure their safety from harm & abuse of power.
We are in danger of violence, indefinite detentions, and imprisonment without evidence or charge from the Military and the Executive branch under which it acts, in blatant violation of the Bill of Rights, should the National Defense Authorization Act with these detention provisions be signed into reality. The detention provisions included in this Defense Bill violate the Constitution at its very core, leaving the Bill of Rights vulnerable to violations on multiple fronts.
The U.S. Senate has done the unthinkable by changing detention laws to imprison people — including Americans living in the United States itself — indefinitely and without charge, all in direct challenge to your threat to veto the NDAA bill should these provisions be kept. They have done so by voting to keep sections 1031 & 1032 of the NDAA and, in doing so, they have betrayed the interests of The People of the United States, infringed our Constitutional Rights, and compromised our safety. In addition to extending the Battlefield worldwide, by choosing to bring the Battlefield to the U.S. soil they have effectively declared War on the American People.

I therefore urge you, Mr. President, to stand by The People, do the right thing, in short, to fulfill your sworn duty to defend the U.S. Constitution by keeping your promise to Veto the NDAA containing these preposterous provisions. Do not go down in history, President Obama, as the man who sold out & destroyed The United States of America on its 222nd Anniversary since its noble inception with the ratification of the Bill of Rights_the very Bill of Rights that is on the line for deletion.
Attentively,
We The People of the United States,
Free People of the World,

[Your name]

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