Beware Everyone and Anyone Now At Risk in the United States: The Terrifying New Act: NDAA

Written by Manal Bader Sunday, 18 December 2011 23:51

When US Congress Representatives and Senators are sworn into office they take an oath to uphold the basic principles of the US constitution. To uphold the law and to preserve the principles of the basic guaranteed liberties including due process and habeas corpus. Yet it is these very Congress people that propose preposterous bills that trample basic civil liberties. As this is the case in the newly proposed bill; the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) could allow for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without charge or trial in a military prison. Of course this was met with huge negative reactions towards detaining any US citizen without due process anywhere in the world if s/he is merely suspected of any terrorist behavior. Of course this definition is extremely vague and broad to the point if someone voices any government objection may be interpreted as a terrorist inclination and thus detained indefinitely without any charges. We heard some of the higher officials, especially in the Senate, voice their concerns of the dire consequences of passing this bill into law. Even a mentioning of an executive veto by the President himself who can ultimately halt this bill in its tracks.

However the threat is real and imminent. According to Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) responded, "...This bill puts military detention authority on steroids and makes it permanent. If it becomes law, American citizens and others are at real risk of being locked away by the military without charge or trial."

Yet one major point was omitted from the high level debate: the indefinite detainment of an individual in a military prison applicable to American citizens not actual combatants, just regular citizens on the street. That poses a major problem, a déjà vu of Guantanamo Bay thereby ensuring this nightmare scenario will be ever-present anywhere in the world, destroying the values of the rapidly crumbling democracy which America now falsely touts. A strikingly similar resemblance to Qadaffi's former regime and Bashar Assad's current regime.

Every Muslim or Arab or Brown person is a new potential target. What happened to "innocent till proven guilty"? The US Constitution strictly forbids this sort of action as mentioned in the the habeas procedure in Article One, Section 9, states that "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it." Now if someone happened to look like Osama bin Laden or Anwar Awalaki will have the legal backing to kidnap, the actual meaning of detain, that person for an unspecified time subjected to military confinement. As evident in Guantanamo Bay, prisoners are held without trial or charges for almost a decade.

Does racism and hatred run deeper than ever before? Did the Civil Rights Movement not shatter these glass walls? As the decades pass, it is clear that this is far from the truth. Now every racist bigot will be able to notify the authorities of their Muslim citizens simply based on suspicion and fear be it "manufactured" or real whether that person wears hijab or grows a beard while wearing a kufi cap. This is simply based on appearance. What about the vocal US citizens who oppose foreign or domestic policies. Why not lock up 99% of the US population???

If one were to simply judge using US produced statistics, immigrant Muslims lead a far more law-abiding lifestyle than their white counterparts. They do not resort to substance abuse, looting, or vandalism during times of need and hardship. The children of these immigrant families go on to complete successful college educations and live productive lives.

Now another more alarming statistic is the profile of a serial killer or child molester or rapist. Why not propose and pass a US Bill that will contain such dangerous people thereby protecting the greater society. Well perhaps the US will have more detention centers than shopping malls and nearly 90% of the population will be indefinitely locked up for an unknown time period.

Another facet of this newly proposed bill is the resounding paranoia and fear factor that will be ever more exaggerated. Every American and non-American will do a double or triple-take on their Muslim neighbor, co-worker, and while we're at it our Muslim doctors all whom the majority of the population has had some type of relationship or interaction with, the vast majority included positive results.

In fact, Islamophobia with the backing of the NDAA will have detrimental effects on society quickly advancing the breakdown of democracy and its social fabric. Media hype will almost immediately propagate quick check-lists for possible terrorists. True that many human rights organizations will cry foul and Muslim civil liberties agencies will call upon the community to quickly and actively voice their objections to their local representatives. In the end Islamophobia will gain fierce momentum and basic liberties will have no bearing on the fate of US citizens living on US soil or any soil for that matter.

The introduction and the potential effect of NDAA will be another nail in the coffin in US democracy. What a humiliating day in US history when the US legislation signs the following bill into effect. Let's pray, if that is even possible without being detained these days, that this is not the prelude towards Muslim concentration camps. It happened before on US soil, it could happen again all in the name of "War on Terror".