To: President Donald Trump
U.S. Citizens Face Indefinite Military Detention WITHOUT TRIAL
Dear President Obama,
This is your chance to prove your naysayers wrong and stand strong for the American people. The National Defense Authorization Act could be the most important bill that will ever cross your desk. It would mandate that the government to indefinitely lock up US citizens SUSPECTED of terrorism or of supporting terrorists WITHOUT EVER BEING CONVICTED. This is a scary slip towards an authoritarian state, and a vague enough definition so as to quite possibly include lots of innocent Americans.
The Senate has already passed this bill, and we are writing you to preempt the possible passage through the House.
Please stand by your word and stand strong to veto this bill if it crosses your desk.
Respectfully,
The People of the United States of America
Why is this important?
A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act just passed in the Senate would authorize the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect — anywhere in the world — without charge or trial. The measure would effectively extend the definition of what is considered the military’s "battlefield" to anywhere in the world, even within the United States.
From Freedom to Fascism indeed. Who's to say what "terrorism" is? Is it Occupying government institutions? Is it surrounding the White House in protest of a pipeline? Is it sending money to a cousin in a foreign country whose neighbor is a member of a group our government doesn't agree with?
Everyone deserves the right to the due process of the justice system. Locking people up indefinitely without them being convicted of any crime is already happening to foreign citizens, and now they bring it to us.