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Barack Obama has just surpassed W. Bush: He did not close Guantanamo, inaugurated by his predecessor, expanded the Iraq and Afghan wars into Pakistan and his economic and social policy did not change the direction given by W. But a few days after the celebration, on December 15, of the 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights that the American Founding Fathers turned into a democratic model, Obama enacted a law that further cuts civil liberties, but further more than the Patriot Act of his predecessor.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed by the Congress, allows the military to indefinitely detain all American terrorist suspects, even living abroad, without charges or trial. Farewell to defense rights and a civil trial, farewell to the defendant’s presumption of innocence until guilt is proven.
Tortures and humiliations against Guantanamo prisoners are known and the situation remains the same for those still held there. This event aroused weak protests in U.S., after all it was about foreigners. The threat that Americans themselves be subjected to such a treatment raised the most unsuspected reactions, even before Obama gave his acceptance to the badly conceived plan. The New York Times published an Op-Ed from Marine Corps retired generals Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar, not short of adjectives.
“The budget bill is misguided and unnecessary: the president already has the power and flexibility to effectively fight terrorism. The laws in force empower the military to detain those caught on the battlefield, but this provision would expand the battlefield to the United States”. They add that the said provision violates not only the spirit of the legislation limiting the use of the military in domestic security affairs but also our trust with service members, who enlisted believing that they would never be asked to turn their weapons on our compatriots”. They underline the provision “reduces”, if not eliminates, the role of federal courts in terrorism cases. Since 9/11r, the shaky and inexpert military commissions have convicted only six people on terror-related charges, as civilian courts sentenced more than 400”. A very practical consideration.
Forbes distracted a bit the permanent attention of billionaires to entitle one of his columns like this: “The NDAA is the biggest threat to civil liberties Americans face”. “So much for innocent until proven guilty. So much for limited government. What Americans are now facing is quite literally the end of the line. We will either uphold the freedoms baked into our Constitutional Republic, or we will scrap the entire project in the name of security as we endlessly wage this futile, costly, and ultimately self-defeating War on Terror”.
Apparently, such severe trials made the White House hesitate and several advisers suggested the possibility that the law be vetoed. But Obama, citing vague changes introduced in the text, made a U-turn and ruled out the veto falling into what a The New York Times editorial described as “a complete political cave-in, which reinforces the impression of a fumbling presidency”. We do not know whether it really was like that.
The White House’s boss waved the veto threat “but not because he had any objection to the substance of the law –stated the Christian Science Monitor–. Actually, the president, who is a former of constitutional law professor, wanted to retain the discretion to apply such provisions, that is, indefinite military detention, to American citizens who, by virtue of the Constitution, have the right to a speedy and public trial, and due juridical protections. Congress capitulated”. It was not Obama who raised the white banner.
Law professor Jonathan Turley, at the George Washington University, listed the record of the civil and human rights violations committed by the Obama government, from the permission to use that torment so-called “submarine” to the blockade on the investigation and prosecution of military and CIA torturers. “In time, Barack Obama‘s election could be regarded as one of the single most devastating events in our history for civil liberties”, Turley concludes.
The Bill of Rights, the First Amendment of the American Constitution, passed in 1791, guaranties, among other things, freedom of speech and assembly, the right, among others, not to be subjected to tortures and to have a quick trial with an impartial jury. It appears that the former constitutional law professor forgot all he knew.
Cubasi Translation Staff
Spain considers it “necessary to end the trade, economic and financial blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States” since it “violates the basic rules of international trade,” the Spanish government said in response to a question posed in Parliament.
It was during the 7th colloquium in Holguin, Cuba for the liberation of the 5 Cuban patriots unjustly imprisoned in the US for their counter terrorist activities that friend – a well-known comrade, veteran campaigner and documentary film-maker- explored concepts of what heroism in the 21st century might mean.
