Udall Amendment SA 1112 To INCLUDE U.S. Citizens and Lawful Resident Aliens in Military Detentions (archive)

(archived from November 27, 2011)

by Scott Creighton

In the original NDAA of 2012, the text clearly states in the disputed sections 1031 and 1032 that the modifications do not seek to extend the powers of the executive branch and that the mandated military detention of terrorism suspects DOES NOT extend to U.S. citizens and lawful resident aliens. I have shown this to be true of the bill in two separate articles, here and here.

This morning I wrote about a Mr. Anders from the ACLU who is apparently misleading the American public in an effort to get the Udall amendment passed which will, as I clearly showed, provide the Obama administration the opportunity to submit their own version of that section of the bill allowing for them to expand the powers of the executive branch to do exactly what Anders mistakenly claims the bill already does.

 

I found on this official website yet another amendment submitted by Mark Udall, SA 1112. SA 1112 is a direct attempt to defuse the original language of the bill which states clearly that military detentions will NOT apply to U.S. citizens. Below is the actual text of SA 1112 submitted by Mark Udall:

 SA 1112. Mr. UDALL of Colorado submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1867, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of section 1031, add the following:

(f) Extension to United States Citizens and Lawful Resident Aliens.–The authority of the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons under this section extends to citizens of the United States and lawful resident aliens of the United States, except to the extent prohibited by the Constitution of the United States.

It’s not the Constitution of the United States that keeps the military from arresting and detaining citizens, it’s Posse Comitatus, which isn’t mentioned by Sen. Udall at all.

“Contrary to popular belief, the Act does not prohibit members of the Army from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain “law and order“; it simply requires that any orders to do so must originate with the United States Constitution or Act of Congress.”  Wikipedia

Sen. Udall’s amendment would do just that, provide an act of congress that sets forth the ability for the military to police U.S. citizens.

This makes Sen. Udall’s intentions perfectly clear; he intends, one way or the other, to provide the opportunity for the executive branch of government to extend it’s powers to include the ability to use military resources to detain U.S. citizens. This also makes Mr. Anders’ letter from the ACLU a complete and total fraud.