Post by anansi on Jan 3, 2012 8:54:10 GMT -5
I tried giving a view from both angles but honestly it does not boards well please clik and read
HONOLULU – President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act here Saturday, but not without expressing his objections to the funding bill’s provisions on the treatment of suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens.
The $662 billion bill, which the White House had initially threatened to veto, authorizes defense and counterterrorism spending through fiscal year 2012 and regulates the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists.
It alarmed some officials at law enforcement agencies and civil liberties groups, who argued that the attempt to clarify executive power post-9/11 could constrain the president’s authority and curb the rights of Americans caught up in terror investigations.
Obama expressed “serious reservations” about the bill but argued in a signing statement released Saturday that it does not fundamentally change executive power.
The administration does not intend to interpret one provision as granting the military authority to detain Americans indefinitely, Obama said in the statement. It also opposes sections of the bill that block the transfer of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to U.S. soil for any purpose and that restrict the government’s ability to transfer detainees to other countries.
Despite these concerns, Obama said he has signed the bill because he approves of the vast majority of the language in its 500-plus pages, “chiefly because it authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families, and vital national security programs that must be renewed.”
The White House opposed the versions of the bill that passed the House and Senate, but this month officials said they found acceptable the version agreed to in conference committee between the two chambers.
“We have concluded that the language does not challenge or constrain the president’s ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the American people,” the White House said then, announcing that his advisers would not encourage him to veto the bill.
Still, Obama waited nearly two weeks — and came close to the Jan. 2 deadline he faced — before signing the legislation. The measures in the law on detainees take effect 60 days after it’s signed, and the administration used “the maximum amount of time to put these implementing procedures together,” a senior administration official said in a conference call with reporters.
One section of the legislation has drawn the ire of civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, that say it allows for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens.
Obama said in the signing statement that his administration “will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens … doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.” Rather, the president said, the section reaffirms executive power that has been supported by the Supreme Court and lower courts.
Some Republican lawmakers have said the bill does not alter the treatment of Americans.
“Nothing here affects U.S. citizens,” Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said this month. “The provisions in this bill … are small steps towards having this Congress back in detention decisions. I think it is the right small step.”
Read more: www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70980.html#ixzz1iP2bidlM
HONOLULU – President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act here Saturday, but not without expressing his objections to the funding bill’s provisions on the treatment of suspected terrorists, including U.S. citizens.
The $662 billion bill, which the White House had initially threatened to veto, authorizes defense and counterterrorism spending through fiscal year 2012 and regulates the detention, interrogation and prosecution of suspected terrorists.
It alarmed some officials at law enforcement agencies and civil liberties groups, who argued that the attempt to clarify executive power post-9/11 could constrain the president’s authority and curb the rights of Americans caught up in terror investigations.
Obama expressed “serious reservations” about the bill but argued in a signing statement released Saturday that it does not fundamentally change executive power.
The administration does not intend to interpret one provision as granting the military authority to detain Americans indefinitely, Obama said in the statement. It also opposes sections of the bill that block the transfer of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to U.S. soil for any purpose and that restrict the government’s ability to transfer detainees to other countries.
Despite these concerns, Obama said he has signed the bill because he approves of the vast majority of the language in its 500-plus pages, “chiefly because it authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families, and vital national security programs that must be renewed.”
The White House opposed the versions of the bill that passed the House and Senate, but this month officials said they found acceptable the version agreed to in conference committee between the two chambers.
“We have concluded that the language does not challenge or constrain the president’s ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists and protect the American people,” the White House said then, announcing that his advisers would not encourage him to veto the bill.
Still, Obama waited nearly two weeks — and came close to the Jan. 2 deadline he faced — before signing the legislation. The measures in the law on detainees take effect 60 days after it’s signed, and the administration used “the maximum amount of time to put these implementing procedures together,” a senior administration official said in a conference call with reporters.
One section of the legislation has drawn the ire of civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, that say it allows for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens.
Obama said in the signing statement that his administration “will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens … doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.” Rather, the president said, the section reaffirms executive power that has been supported by the Supreme Court and lower courts.
Some Republican lawmakers have said the bill does not alter the treatment of Americans.
“Nothing here affects U.S. citizens,” Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said this month. “The provisions in this bill … are small steps towards having this Congress back in detention decisions. I think it is the right small step.”
Read more: www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70980.html#ixzz1iP2bidlM