posted November 23, 2012 06:37 AM            

The Obama Administration fights to spread its own values on the core, fundamental right of due process

By Glenn Greenwald

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For several decades, the US government - in annual "human rights" reports issued by the State Department (reports mandated by the US Congress) - has formally condemned nations around the globe for the practice of indefinite detention: imprisoning people without charges or any fixed sentence. These reports, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her preface to last year's document, are grounded in the principle that "respect for human rights is not a western construct or a uniquely American ideal; it is the foundation for peace and stability everywhere." That 2011 report condemned numerous nations for indefinite detention, including Libya ("abuse and lack of review in detention"), Uzbekistan ("arbitrary arrest and detention"), Syria ("arbitrary arrest and detention"), and Iran ("Authorities held detainees, at times incommunicado, often for weeks or months without charge or trial").

In Afghanistan and Iraq, the US government is engaged in a fierce and protracted battle over the fundamental right to be free of indefinite detention. Specifically, the US is demanding that the governments of those two nations cease extending this right to their citizens. As a Washington Post article this morning details, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is insisting that the US fulfill its commitment to turn over all prisons, including the notorious facility at Bagram, to Afghan control, but here is one major impediment...

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posted November 30, 2012 06:37 AM            

They lost me at:

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President Barack Obama opposed the measure, but ultimately signed it after an amendment to the act muddied the issue enough to make it debatable in courts. Obama pledged to never use the authority.

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^ Misleading, doesn't tell the whole story, treats readers like idiots who wouldn't be able to stomach reading about Obama doing anything seriously controversial.

The article I began this thread with is about how people are being indefinitely detained abroad, and highlights the double standard of Americans who decry indefinite detention when it takes place at the hands of certain diabolical leaders and support or just ignore it when the US is doing it.

As for me, I think they indefinitely detain people who have information against the Powers that Be, which they won't tolerate being uttered in the course of a regular trial.