"Prolonged detention" for Americans who may  break a law? Including Pro-Life Christians? Excerpts from President Obama's speech on May 21 For background information, see Barbed Wire Camps for American Citizens and Enemy of the People

June 2, 2009       Home

Rachel Maddow: "A tale of two speeches both from the same man, both from president Obama. One speech that could have been billed as a Ballad to the Constitution.... And in another speech announcing a radical new claim of 'presidential power' that is not afforded by the Constitution and that has never been attempted in American history....

OBAMA: "...The decisions that were made over the last eight years established an ad hoc legal approach for 'fighting terrorism' that was neither effective nor sustainable."

Maddow: "An 'ad hoc legal approach for fighting terrorism' ­ that 'was neither effective nor sustainable.' Ouch! Then moments later he announced his own ad hoc legal approach for fighting terrorism. President Obama today proposed something called 'prolonged detention.' Doesn't sound that bad right? Did you ever see the movie "Minority Report"? ...it came out in 2002 and starred Tom Cruise, remember? He played a police officer in something called the Department of Pre-Crime. Pre-Crime is where people are arrested and incarcerated to prevent crimes that they have not yet committed! ... Putting someone in jail, not for what they have done, but for what you are very sure they're going to do?"  

OBAMA: "There may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in some cases because evidence may be tainted; but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United States."  

Maddow: "We're not prosecuting them for past crimes, but we need to keep them in prison because of our expectation of their future crimes."  

OBAMA: "Al Qaeda and their affiliates are at war with the United States and those that we capture, like other prisoners of war, must be prevented from attacking us again."  

Maddow: "Prevented" We will incarcerate people preventively! Preventive Incarceration! Indefinite detention without trial; that's what this is! That's what president Obama proposed today. If you strip away the euphemisms, one civil liberties advocate told the NY Times today:  

"We've known this was on the horizon for many years, but we were able to hold it off with George Bush. The idea that we might find ourselves fighting with the Obama administration over these powers is really stunning...."

OBAMA: "...but we must do so with an abiding confidence of The Rule of Law. Our government was defending positions that undermined The Rule of Law, to insure that they are in line with The Rule of Law."  

Maddow: "How can a president speak the kind of poetry that president Obama does about The Rule of Law AND call for the power to indefinitely, preventively imprison people because they might commit crimes in the future? How can these things co-exist in the same man, even in the same speech? Well this brings us to the self-conscious awkwardly embarrassing part of this speech today. After condemning the Bush administration for what he called their 'ad-hoc legal strategy'; for trying to make things seem legal that patently weren't -- this is what Obama proposed."  

OBAMA: "My administration has begun to reshape the standards that apply to insure that they are in line with The Rule of Law. We must have clear and lawful defensible standards for who shall fall into this category. ... We must have a thorough process of periodic review so that any prolonged detention is kept carefully evaluated and justified! Our goal is to construct a legitimate legal framework for the remaining Guantanamo detainees that cannot be transferred. Our goal is not to avoid a legitimate framework. In our constitutional system, prolonged detention should not be the decision of any one man."  

"If and when we determine that the United States must hold individuals to keep them from carrying out an act of war; we will do so within a system that involves judicial and congressional oversight. And so going forward, my administration will work with congress to develop an appropriate legal regimen so that our efforts are consistent with our values and our constitution."  

Maddow: "You'll construct a legal regime to make indefinite detentions legal -- you will develop an appropriate legal regimen! So you can construct a whole new system outside the courts -- even outside the military commissions -- so that you can indefinitely imprison people without charges, and you'll build that system from scratch. What's that somebody said about 'Ad-hoc legal strategies'?"   

OBAMA: "Right now in distant training camps and in crowded cities, there are people plotting to take American lives. That will be the case a year from now; five years from now; and in all probability ten years from now."  

Maddow: "Ten years from now? ... Prolonged Detention he's calling it. This was a beautiful speech from president Obama today with patriotic, moving, and even poetic language about The Rule of Law and the Constitution -- and -- one of the most radical proposals for defying the Constitution that we have ever heard made to the American people."

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May God awaken His people to the spiritual war raging behind the visible world! And may He equip us to stand firm in His Truth, persevere in faith, and demonstrate His love to others -- no matter what challenges we face!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

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