Occupy Tampa protesters plan to march to Obama’s Ybor City campaign office today to protest the president’s decision to support the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill that authorizes the “indefinite detention of terrorist suspects” — including American citizens — “without trial.”
In a statement given to Obama’s office yesterday, Occupy Tampa protesters wrote:
In your newly stated support for the provisions that allow for the indefinite detainment of American citizens, the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, you have betrayed the trust of those who have put you into office and the trust of the citizens that your office was created to serve.
If you fail to veto this bill in its entirety due to these provisions, you can expect members of occupations all over the country to dedicate ourselves to act against your political interests in the 2012 election and beyond.
This bill threatens the first amendment.
This bill explicitly violates Art. III, Sec. 3 of the constitution which states, “No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court”. The removal of the rights of citizenship without due process of law allows for the destruction of the rights and liberties that we, the citizens, have, for generations, fought and bled for.
This bill violates the Fourth amendment, and the founding principles of due process that stands as the basis for justice in our country.
This bill further eliminates the protections guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment right to make use of due process of law.
This bill violates the Sixth amendment of the Constitution, as it denies citizens to the basic protection of a guaranteed trial by jury.
For the first time in legislative history the government of the United States has, through legislative fiat, designated the entire planet upon which we live a war zone and every citizen a potential enemy of the state.
This bill goes against everything that you have said previously, everything you have purported to stand for, and what has distinguished this nation as the founder of the free world.
We expect you to veto this assault on the American way of life.
The NDAA has drawn fierce criticism from civil liberties advocates. The executive director of Human Rights Watch said that by deciding to support the bill, Obama “will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law.” An ACLU representative said that “if President Obama signs this bill, it will damage both his legacy and American’s reputation for upholding the rule of law.”
