U.S. House approves indefinite detention and 8 billion increase in defense budget

A bill approving indefinite detention of terror suspects passed the House of Represenatives today. The detention applies even to U.S. citizens and even if they are captured in the U.S. The right of habeas corpus is by now ancient history.

An amendment that would bar indefinite detention sponsored by Adam Smith a Democrat and Justin Amash a Republican was defeated by a vote of 238 to 182. Amash noted:“The frightening thing here is that the government is claiming the power under the Afghanistan authorization for use of military force as a justification for entering American homes to grab people, indefinitely detain them and not give them a charge or trial,” Apparently this does not matter to a majority in the House.

A defense bill totaling a huge 642 billion was also passed by a vote of 299-120. The deficit cutting agreement reached by Obama and the Republicans was simply ignored. Instead of cuts 8 billion was added to the budget. The legislators simply ignored their own earlier legislative agreements.

To add insult to injury the bill as well calls for a missile defense system on the East Coast a system the military itself officially opposes. The bill also will prevent the scheduled reduction of nuclear weapons that is legally required under the terms of a treaty with Russia. No doubt this is part of a stimulus package for the military industrial complex. For more see this article.