• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provisions...

Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Okay, so that's about six per year, or about 1/3 as many as Bush issued.
So Obama is only 1/3 as bad as Bush? lol
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

And that it will. There is your hope and change, Democrats, shredding the Constitution of the United States, right where the Bush administration left off. And if that isn't enough, there is yet another piece of hypocrisy embedded in this law...... Obama added a signing statement, saying that his administration will interpret the new law in such a way that American citizens would not be detained without due process guaranteed by the Constitution. I have a LOT of problems with this signing statement:

1) First of all, and most obvious, Obama blasted Bush for using signing statements, and now here he is, using one.

2) An Obama signing statement doesn't mean a thing, once Obama leaves office. A different president could negate it in a New York minute.

3) Just because Democrats in Congress didn't have the backbone to challenge Bush on his signing statements doesn't mean that Congressional Republicans won't have the backbone too. On this, though, I must admit that Republicans will go along with the status quo, but their hatred of Obama does make this option pretty tempting. On that, I am rooting for the Republicans, should they decide to take this road.

Here is the deal, folks. The Obama administration has let loose upon the land a law that is just as Odious as the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were signed into law by John Adams. The law is unconstitutional. Period. But where is the Democratic outcry in Congress..... You know, the kind of outcry we heard almost every day during Bush's reign? I only hear Democratic hypocrisy, cloaked in silence.

Have we now entered the age of the twilight's last gleaming? It depends on the American people. If we are content to replace our interest in the political process with interest in Dancing with the Stars, Justin Bieber, and the rest of the garbage that passes for information these days, then we will get exactly the kind of Government we deserve. And Big Brother will be eternally grateful. Say goodbye to America, folks.

Finally, if a case is ever to be made for a third party, this is it, just as long as they don't sell America down the river too.

Article is here.

I agree Obama should come under attack for this along with any in Congress or GOP candidates that have not come out against this. Which of the GOP candidates except Ron Paul have made public their opposition?
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

You agreed with the ACLU. Your conservative card, I want it, now.

I prefer to say that I agree with the Constitution of the United States.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

I feel like I'm the only liberal who isn't outraged and disillusioned by this. I also feel like I'm the only one who understands that campaign promises are made before candidates get certain information.

Campaign promises are one thing. An oath to defend the Constitution of the Unites States, instead of shredding it, is quite another.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Republican praise and support for Obama's continuation of Patriot Act, Gitmo, NDAA
Patriot Act:



"Patriot Act Extension Signed By Obama

IM ABRAMS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Minutes before a midnight deadline, President Barack Obama signed into law a four-year extension of post-Sept. 11 powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists.

"It's an important tool for us to continue dealing with an ongoing terrorist threat," Obama said Friday after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

snip

Still, coming just a month after intelligence and military forces tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden, there was little appetite for tampering with the terrorism-fighting tools. These tools, said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, "have kept us safe for nearly a decade and Americans today should be relieved and reassured to know that these programs will continue."


Keeping GITMO open



Obama flip-flops on Guantanamo Bay

Republican lawmakers praised the president’s order on Guantanamo, and claiming that the new executive order vindicated the much-maligned President George W. Bush. Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, stated, "I commend the Obama Administration for issuing this Executive Order," the Post reported. "The bottom line is that it affirms the Bush Administration policy that our government has the right to detain dangerous terrorists until the cessation of hostilities."


NDAA



John McCain, co-sponsor of the NDAA legislation:

"December 15, 2011

“Mr. President, I fully support the Conference Report of the National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2012. This yearly Authorization bill provides defense policy guidance and funding, both vital to our national security. This bill also provides the clearest indication to our men and women in uniform that the Congress cares about them and their families. In testament to the importance of this legislation, Congress has passed a Defense Authorization bill into law every year since 1961. Now is not the time to break faith with the men and women who are selflessly serving our Nation by failing to pass this Conference Report."

Republican praise and support for Obama's continuation of Patriot Act, Gitmo, NDAA - Democratic Underground
 
Last edited:
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

I find it funny when Republicans attack Obama for going along with Republican policy goals. Silly Republicans.

What exactly does this have to do with the threads topic about the ACLU attacking him?
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

I feel like I'm the only liberal who isn't outraged and disillusioned by this. I also feel like I'm the only one who understands that campaign promises are made before candidates get certain information.

I sure wish he would let the rest of us in on the reasons we are still in Afghanistan.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Campaign promises are one thing. An oath to defend the Constitution of the Unites States, instead of shredding it, is quite another.
And where did he "shred" the Constitution?
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

I sure wish he would let the rest of us in on the reasons we are still in Afghanistan.

What exactly does this have to do with the threads topic about the ACLU attacking him?

...............
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

...............

So do you think he will ever let us in on the knowledge? He's ramping up the war machine which as we see here as drawn the ire of the ACLU and it seems that your arguement is that he knows more than the rest of us being the reason for it.

If we are to simply accept our sons and daughters dying for these reasons and the rest of us should just understand our loss of rights, shouldn't we be let in on these reasons?
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Whether or not it's breaking Constitutional Law has been challenged over the years in the Supreme Court. They're not US citizens though it could be argued we've made them so by not giving them a country except our military base. An "enemy combatant" is an individual who, under the laws and customs of war, may be detained for the duration of an armed conflict. The President has unquestioned authority to detain enemy combatants, including those who are U.S. citizens, during wartime. All of the detainees have been designated as unlawful combatants and thus do not as a matter of law have a right to counsel to challenge their detention or the protections of the Third Geneva Convention. U.S. citizen enemy combatants who are detained in the United States may challenge their detention by a petition for habeas corpus, not so for non-citizen detainees. In 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the detainees retain the same rights as U.S. residents to seek writs of habeas corpus. But the ruling will only permit the accused enemy combatants to see the evidence that justifies their captivity. Justice Kennedy wrote, "The (Constitution's) framers viewed freedom from unlawful restraint as a fundamental precept of liberty," "and they understood the writ of habeas corpus as a vital instrument to secure that freedom." So in the spirit of the law it seems we are not holding up the Constitution because it was never meant to deny anyone's rights indefinitely, no matter how you twist it to the letter.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

So do you think he will ever let us in on the knowledge? He's ramping up the war machine which as we see here as drawn the ire of the ACLU and it seems that your arguement is that he knows more than the rest of us being the reason for it.

If we are to simply accept our sons and daughters dying for these reasons and the rest of us should just understand our loss of rights, shouldn't we be let in on these reasons?
Not if widespread knowledge puts more of our "sons and daughters" lives at risk. If it doesn't, then yes we should know.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Not if widespread knowledge puts more of our "sons and daughters" lives at risk. If it doesn't, then yes we should know.

I suppose but I can't concieve where that would ever be the case. I'm not real big on "You'll risk your life because I know more than you".
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

This is another reason I favor line-item veto. Obama made it crystal clear he did not like the questionable provisions, but that he had to sign the bill because of other items it contained.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

I suppose but I can't concieve where that would ever be the case. I'm not real big on "You'll risk your life because I know more than you".
Well, when you sign up for the military, sometimes that's the case. You sign up to trust military intelligence, the president and the rest of your superiors. Sometimes, too much information flow threatens the mission.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Whether or not it's breaking Constitutional Law has been challenged over the years in the Supreme Court. They're not US citizens though it could be argued we've made them so by not giving them a country except our military base. An "enemy combatant" is an individual who, under the laws and customs of war, may be detained for the duration of an armed conflict. The President has unquestioned authority to detain enemy combatants, including those who are U.S. citizens, during wartime. All of the detainees have been designated as unlawful combatants and thus do not as a matter of law have a right to counsel to challenge their detention or the protections of the Third Geneva Convention. U.S. citizen enemy combatants who are detained in the United States may challenge their detention by a petition for habeas corpus, not so for non-citizen detainees. In 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the detainees retain the same rights as U.S. residents to seek writs of habeas corpus. But the ruling will only permit the accused enemy combatants to see the evidence that justifies their captivity. Justice Kennedy wrote, "The (Constitution's) framers viewed freedom from unlawful restraint as a fundamental precept of liberty," "and they understood the writ of habeas corpus as a vital instrument to secure that freedom." So in the spirit of the law it seems we are not holding up the Constitution because it was never meant to deny anyone's rights indefinitely, no matter how you twist it to the letter.
Right, but it's my understanding that the Constitution only applies to citizens. Obama has already stated that indefinite detention will not apply to citizens.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

I feel like I'm the only liberal who isn't outraged and disillusioned by this. I also feel like I'm the only one who understands that campaign promises are made before candidates get certain information.
Dont worry. Even though you are the ONLY liberal that really understands everything, the rest will still join you in the polls, despite this, or his stuffing his pockets with banker/broker bribes (OWS...fight the power baby), expanding black ops prison use, extension of Bush's anti-terrorism actions, signing the Obama tax breaks for the rich, along with congress adding as much debt as Bush in 3 short years, failure to insist on something as basic and simple as a federal budget from congress, engagement of our military against a sovereign power that posed no threat to the US, outasight unemployment figures...etc...
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Right, but it's my understanding that the Constitution only applies to citizens. Obama has already stated that indefinite detention will not apply to citizens.

Well, that's the kind of cagey dodge supporters of the "unlawful enemy combatant" definition have been supporting, especially being lodged off of continental soil. But the Constitution as you say should apply to the US citizens and it's officials in how we treat others regardless of their national status. The following is case law that interprets how the Constitution applies to non-citizens in US custody.

In Rasul vs. Bush /Al Odah v. United States the court, by a 6-3 vote, held that the nearly 600 non-citizens being held at the Guantanamo Bay navel base may challenge their detention before a neutral decision-maker, presumably a federal judge.

In the Rasul case, the core question was whether non-citizens being held in custody at Guantanamo Bay have a right to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus—petitions through which federal judges are asked to examine the lawfulness of holding a person in custody. In affirming that right, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority and settled two basic issues raised in the case: first, that no distinction can be made between a citizen and a non-citizen held in custody in their right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus; and second, that Guantanamo Bay is within the jurisdiction of federal courts, entitling the non-citizens detained there to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus. It has been the administration's position that the federal judiciary's reach does not extend to Guantanamo Bay because it is outside the "sovereign territory" of the United States. In rejecting that argument, the court held that federal judicial review applies to Guantanamo Bay, since it is a territory in which the US exercises plenary and exclusive jurisdiction, if not "ultimate sovereignty."
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Well, that's the kind of cagey dodge supporters of the "unlawful enemy combatant" definition have been supporting, especially being lodged off of continental soil. But the Constitution as you say should apply to the US citizens and it's officials in how we treat others regardless of their national status. The following is case law that interprets how the Constitution applies to non-citizens in US custody.

In Rasul vs. Bush /Al Odah v. United States the court, by a 6-3 vote, held that the nearly 600 non-citizens being held at the Guantanamo Bay navel base may challenge their detention before a neutral decision-maker, presumably a federal judge.

In the Rasul case, the core question was whether non-citizens being held in custody at Guantanamo Bay have a right to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus—petitions through which federal judges are asked to examine the lawfulness of holding a person in custody. In affirming that right, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority and settled two basic issues raised in the case: first, that no distinction can be made between a citizen and a non-citizen held in custody in their right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus; and second, that Guantanamo Bay is within the jurisdiction of federal courts, entitling the non-citizens detained there to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus. It has been the administration's position that the federal judiciary's reach does not extend to Guantanamo Bay because it is outside the "sovereign territory" of the United States. In rejecting that argument, the court held that federal judicial review applies to Guantanamo Bay, since it is a territory in which the US exercises plenary and exclusive jurisdiction, if not "ultimate sovereignty."
I didn't know about that case. I guess my impression was wrong. Even so, if non-citizen prisoners are given the right to contest their imprisonment, this still does not bar the right of the country to detain them indefinitely since their petitions may be denied.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

I prefer to say that I agree with the Constitution of the United States.

This isn't about guns, so you don't get to play the constitution card and still keep your conservative card. Hand it over.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

And that it will. There is your hope and change, Democrats, shredding the Constitution of the United States, right where the Bush administration left off. And if that isn't enough, there is yet another piece of hypocrisy embedded in this law...... Obama added a signing statement, saying that his administration will interpret the new law in such a way that American citizens would not be detained without due process guaranteed by the Constitution. I have a LOT of problems with this signing statement:

1) First of all, and most obvious, Obama blasted Bush for using signing statements, and now here he is, using one.

2) An Obama signing statement doesn't mean a thing, once Obama leaves office. A different president could negate it in a New York minute.

3) Just because Democrats in Congress didn't have the backbone to challenge Bush on his signing statements doesn't mean that Congressional Republicans won't have the backbone too. On this, though, I must admit that Republicans will go along with the status quo, but their hatred of Obama does make this option pretty tempting. On that, I am rooting for the Republicans, should they decide to take this road.

Here is the deal, folks. The Obama administration has let loose upon the land a law that is just as Odious as the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were signed into law by John Adams. The law is unconstitutional. Period. But where is the Democratic outcry in Congress..... You know, the kind of outcry we heard almost every day during Bush's reign? I only hear Democratic hypocrisy, cloaked in silence.

Have we now entered the age of the twilight's last gleaming? It depends on the American people. If we are content to replace our interest in the political process with interest in Dancing with the Stars, Justin Bieber, and the rest of the garbage that passes for information these days, then we will get exactly the kind of Government we deserve. And Big Brother will be eternally grateful. Say goodbye to America, folks.

Finally, if a case is ever to be made for a third party, this is it, just as long as they don't sell America down the river too.

Article is here.

As well they should slam him for this.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

This is another reason I favor line-item veto. Obama made it crystal clear he did not like the questionable provisions, but that he had to sign the bill because of other items it contained.

Even though he pushed for it. :roll:
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Well, when you sign up for the military, sometimes that's the case. You sign up to trust military intelligence, the president and the rest of your superiors. Sometimes, too much information flow threatens the mission.

Again, I can understand a soldier not being briefed on every aspect of a mission but that's entirely different than the country being at war without it being explained why.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

Again, I can understand a soldier not being briefed on every aspect of a mission but that's entirely different than the country being at war without it being explained why.
You say that like it's a mystery why we're in Afghanistan. It's not. You just don't know every detail.
 
Re: ACLU, Others Slam Obama for Signing Defense Bill That Includes Detainee Provision

You say that like it's a mystery why we're in Afghanistan. It's not. You just don't know every detail.

So tell me.
 
Back
Top Bottom