I believe Winston Churchill said it best.
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist." --- Winston Churchill, Nov. 21, 1943
No, it’s not the New York Times. It’s not the Washington Post. In fact, it’s not even the Boston Globe. But it is a mainstream newspaper and one I peruse as often as I can, the San Francisco Chronicle, that has decided to cover the Bush regime's quiet, sustained effort to blanket the country with huge detention centers. Single-bid contracts have been signed and implemented for sometime now (beginning in late 1999) with Halliburton Inc's offshoot KBR to build these detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States.
Now, it should be noted that the publicly stated reason for these [privately-owned] detention centers is for additional institutional space in case of an illegal alien influx-overload due to a wide array of reasons, including mass-migration into the southern U.S. of people from Mexico, South America and other countries trying to escape worsening economical conditions and food and water shortages.
To compliment the brand shiny new prisons, the government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars; some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.
While we here in the left blogosphere and the greater reality-based community have sought out the international and independent press to stay informed, the majority of Americans just haven’t been paying attention to what the federal government has been doing – supposedly for our own good – but ultimately for the protection of the few; Bush’s infamous "have-mores."
While America slept and especially since September 11, 2001, our federal government has driven the "trust us" meme into the ground, and assumed the unilateral authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of so-deemed "dissidents," (citizen or non-citizen) and subsequently detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of "an emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs."
(What the latter part of that sentence is supposed to mean is far beyond my limited extrapolation skills... but it can’t be a good development for any would-be "dissenters.")
Anyway, According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the KBR contract is part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal the removal of "all removable aliens" and "potential terrorists."
From the very cool rag – The San Francisco Chronicle:
Fraud-busters such as Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, have complained about these contracts, saying that more taxpayer dollars should not go to taxpayer-gouging Halliburton. But the real question is: What kinds of "new programs" require the construction and refurbishment of detention facilities in nearly every state of the union with the capacity to house perhaps millions of people?
Sect. 1042 of the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), "Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies," gives the executive the power to invoke martial law. For the first time in more than a century, the president is now authorized to use the military in response to "a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, a terrorist attack or any other condition in which the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to the extent that state officials cannot maintain public order."
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, rammed through Congress just before the 2006 midterm elections, allows for the indefinite imprisonment of anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on a list of "terrorist" organizations, or who speaks out against the government's policies. The law calls for secret trials for citizens and non-citizens alike.
Also in 2007, the White House quietly issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD-51), to ensure "continuity of government" in the event of what the document vaguely calls a "catastrophic emergency." Should the president determine that such an emergency has occurred, he and he alone is empowered to do whatever he deems necessary to ensure "continuity of government." This could include everything from canceling elections to suspending the Constitution to launching a nuclear attack. Congress has yet to hold a single hearing on NSPD-51.
Of course, behind every good dictator there stands a woman, and Bush is graced with enablers like U.S. Rep. Jane Harmon (D-CA), who decided to drink the kool-aid and become a collaborator in this neocon-quasi-coup d'état.
The California congresswoman has come up with a brand new way to expand the domestic front in the GWOT. Her Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (HR1955), which passed the House by the lopsided vote of 404-6, would set up a commission to "examine and report upon the facts and causes" of so-called violent radicalism and extremist ideology, then make legislative recommendations on combating it.
According to commentary in the Baltimore Sun, (archives) Rep. Harman and her colleagues from both sides of the aisle believe the country faces a native brand of terrorism, and needs a commission with sweeping investigative power to combat it.
A so-called commission to discern and combat homegrown terrorism? Are we really supposed to believe that there is such a pervasive presence of terrorists [inside the U.S.) to justify needing a 12-person committee with seemingly endless tenure and broad powers and jurisdiction to keep tabs on them all?
In my estimation, domestic terrorism is a law enforcement issue, and should be dealt with by domestic law enforcement agencies. The formation of a committee will end up (if for no other reason than to justify its existence) going down a slippery path, and finding terrorist plots behind every door. But even given that potential dubious scenario, my greatest concern has to do with the internet; our lifeline to the outside world and international news sources.
Exactly how long will it take this commission to begin determining that the subjects we write about in the blogosphere could be construed as "the fomentation of homegrown terrorism?" I fear the greatest victim of such scrutiny and interpretation will inevitably be "the truth."
As if we didn't already have enough legislature to monitor, we must begin bombarding the Senate with calls and emails to stop this legislation in its tracks. This type of commission serves no purpose in a thriving democracy, and we must impress upon the Senate that it's not needed -- at least not in its present form. Think about it for a moment. If we really had this "homegrown terrorism" problem in America, wouldn't we be hearing all about it from BushCo's minions.
Michael Chertoff has a "feeling in his gut." Yet, he hasn't hyped a domestic threat lately, but rather the threat of terrorists wanting to come here from abroad to carry out an attack in the U.S.
I think the Chronicle nails it with this passage:
A clue as to where Harman's commission might be aiming is the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a law that labels those who "engage in sit-ins, civil disobedience, trespass, or any other crime in the name of animal rights" as terrorists. Other groups in the crosshairs could be anti-abortion protesters, anti-tax agitators, immigration activists, environmentalists, peace demonstrators, Second Amendment rights supporters ... the list goes on and on. According to author Naomi Wolf, the National Counterterrorism Center holds the names of roughly 775,000 "terror suspects" with the number increasing by 20,000 per month.
What could the government be contemplating that leads it to make contingency plans to detain without recourse millions of its own citizens?
The Constitution does not allow the executive to have unchecked power under any circumstances. The people must not allow the president to use the war on terrorism to rule by fear instead of by law.
Please, fight this bill. It won't be easy. Joe LieberBush is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the ranking member, Susan Collins of Maine, is the bill's sponsor.
Contact your senators and those on the committee today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes to stop this democracy-killer.
Peace