IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED to Protect Americans from Indefinite Detention

Quote of the Day: “This is an asymmetric war. In asymmetric wars, you want to pit your greatest strength against the enemy’s greatest weakness. Our great strengths are our ideals and our system of justice.” – Ret. Adm. John Hutson, former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy

Two weeks ago we warned you about indefinite detention provisions of the Senate’s version National Defense Authorization Act.

We explain the bill…

* here 
* and here

We have BAD NEWS to report. In the final version of the bill coming from the House-Senate Conference Committee, essentially NOTHING HAS CHANGED except section numbers and a couple of words.

The House is voting on the bill TOMORROW, December 14.

Please CALL your Representative telling them to oppose the National Defense Authorization Act, especially sections 1021 and 1022. His or her number is available when you are logged in to our “I Am Not Afraid” campaign.

Please write a letter as well. We have updated the hard-wired message to say:

I strongly oppose Sections 1021 and 1022 in the National Defense Authorization Act (HR 1540).

You may borrow from or copy the following personal comments…

These provisions REQUIRE military detention for aliens suspected of terrorism, and ALLOWS the President to subject American citizens to the same treatment. This includes the power to detain people INDEFINITELY, without charges.

This undermines the Posse Comitatus Act, which outlawed the deployment of the military for domestic policing. This actually makes us LESS secure because it diverts the military’s mission from fighting wars to investigating and prosecuting suspected terrorists.

Even worse, this is a declaration of war on the American way of life.

* It violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment
* And abandons protections against arbitrary executive power that are as old as the Magna Carta

How can ANY of my rights and freedoms be secure if the President can, by whim, call me a “terrorist” and order troops to kidnap me?

If it is true that terrorists hate us for our freedom, then Sections 1021 and 1022 will make it official: The terrorists win.

Be a patriot. Be an American. Stand up for the Constitution. Strip Sections 1021 and 1022 from HR 1540 or oppose the bill altogether.

END LETTER

You can send your letter using DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System.

Spread this message via email, blog, or social network — whatever facilities you have. Tell your friends to join you in acting NOW. Rep. Justin Amash is organizing opposition, and he’s making progress. But time is short. Your help is needed.

Thank you!

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.