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An Act Which Could Set U.S. on Path to Military Dictatorship

Anything extreme is dangerous! All too sadly the last years have seen belligerency, anger and irrational and responses [often without any thought as to there consequences] to a range of things.

The so-called threat of and from terrorism has resulted in many countries introducing legislation which curb, and severely so, previously "sacred" rights of citizens. America has seen extremely "severe" Acts.

Now, read this piece from AlterNet, and be concerned.......very concerned! This Act could ensnare anyone, American or not, anywhere in the world.

"On March 4th, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman introduced a bill called the "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010" that, if passed, would set this country on a course to become a military dictatorship.

The bill is only 12 pages long, but that is plenty of room to grant the president the power to order the arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment of anyone -- including a U.S. citizen -- indefinitely, on the sole suspicion that he or she is affiliated with terrorism, and on the president's sole authority as commander in chief.

The Act begins with the following (convoluted) requirement:

'Whenever within the United States, its territories, and possessions, or outside the territorial limits of the United States, an individual is captured or otherwise comes into the custody or under the effective control of the United States who is suspected of engaging in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners through an act of terrorism, or by other means in violation of the laws of war, or of purposely and materially supporting such hostilities, and who may be an unprivileged enemy belligerent, the individual shall be placed in military custody for purposes of initial interrogation and determination of status in accordance with the provisions of this Act.'

In other words, if at any point, anywhere in the world, a person is caught who might have done something to suggest that he or she is a terrorist or somehow supporting a terrorist organization against the U.S. or its allies, that person must be imprisoned by the military."

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