Ray Buursma
hollandsentinel.com
Holland —
“Reservations”? He has “reservations”?
Imagine President Obama’s teenage daughter telling her father she wants to hang out with some friends that evening. After supper, a gang of leather-clad, heavily tattooed and bearded bikers pulls up in the White House driveway. “My friends are here,” she says. “See you later, Daddy”.
The president is taken aback. He wants his daughter to have social time, but when he sees her “friends,” he has “reservations.” Still, he gives her an OK but reserves the right to make adjustments should problems develop.
Imagine President Obama’s wife telling her husband how her friends have been raving about a new spa in town. She wants a massage, so the president says he’ll take her. After they enter a private room, the president examines the surroundings. A bottle of wine is chilling in a red bucket, and “Bolero” is playing softly in the background. Then Sven, a muscular, tanned 6-foot-4-inch Scandinavian with chiseled chin wearing only a short, white towel around his waist enters the room. “Bye, honey,” Michelle says. “Pick me up in a couple hours.”
Again, the president is taken aback. He leaves but again has “reservations” and reserves the right to make adjustments should problems arise.
Now know this. In his last official act of 2011, our president signed the National Defense Authorization Act with “reservations.” He explained that he approved the bill “chiefly because it authorizes funds for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families, and vital national security programs that must be renewed.”
But one provision of the act allows our armed forces to detain terror suspects indefinitely and without charge. Furthermore, suspects can be held under these conditions even if they are Americans and even if they are arrested on American soil.
Obama had “reservations” concerning the provision but signed the bill anyway.
That’s like saying, “I decided to let my daughter go out because she needs time with her friends” or “My wife has put in a ton of work and needs to relieve some stress” while ignoring the precarious positions awaiting his loved ones.
When challenged, Obama responded, “My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.”
Wrong, Mr. President. Doing so would break with our most important RIGHT.
Our Bill of Rights contains a provision which states, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial ... .”
Contrast this with the language of the act, which declares American forces may detain anyone “who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, or anyone who commits a belligerent act against the U.S. or its coalition allies, under the law of war, without trial, until the end of the hostilities ... ”
Besides indefinite detention, who gets to determine that hostilities have ended in an undeclared war against an unrecognizable enemy? This provision is completely unnecessary, for America has plenty of laws addressing treason, sedition and espionage. Indefinite detention is a cancer attacking liberty and must be excised, for there is no greater liberty than freedom from involuntary confinement.
The president took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. In an act of political expediency, he broke his promise.
I have no reservations in saying, “Shame on him.”
— Contact Ray Buursma through The Sentinel at newsroom@hollandsentinel.com.
Imagine President Obama’s teenage daughter telling her father she wants to hang out with some friends that evening. After supper, a gang of leather-clad, heavily tattooed and bearded bikers pulls up in the White House driveway. “My friends are here,” she says. “See you later, Daddy”.
The president is taken aback. He wants his daughter to have social time, but when he sees her “friends,” he has “reservations.” Still, he gives her an OK but reserves the right to make adjustments should problems develop.
Imagine President Obama’s wife telling her husband how her friends have been raving about a new spa in town. She wants a massage, so the president says he’ll take her. After they enter a private room, the president examines the surroundings. A bottle of wine is chilling in a red bucket, and “Bolero” is playing softly in the background. Then Sven, a muscular, tanned 6-foot-4-inch Scandinavian with chiseled chin wearing only a short, white towel around his waist enters the room. “Bye, honey,” Michelle says. “Pick me up in a couple hours.”
Again, the president is taken aback. He leaves but again has “reservations” and reserves the right to make adjustments should problems arise.
Now know this. In his last official act of 2011, our president signed the National Defense Authorization Act with “reservations.” He explained that he approved the bill “chiefly because it authorizes funds for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families, and vital national security programs that must be renewed.”
But one provision of the act allows our armed forces to detain terror suspects indefinitely and without charge. Furthermore, suspects can be held under these conditions even if they are Americans and even if they are arrested on American soil.
Obama had “reservations” concerning the provision but signed the bill anyway.
That’s like saying, “I decided to let my daughter go out because she needs time with her friends” or “My wife has put in a ton of work and needs to relieve some stress” while ignoring the precarious positions awaiting his loved ones.
When challenged, Obama responded, “My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.”
Wrong, Mr. President. Doing so would break with our most important RIGHT.
Our Bill of Rights contains a provision which states, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial ... .”
Contrast this with the language of the act, which declares American forces may detain anyone “who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, or anyone who commits a belligerent act against the U.S. or its coalition allies, under the law of war, without trial, until the end of the hostilities ... ”
Besides indefinite detention, who gets to determine that hostilities have ended in an undeclared war against an unrecognizable enemy? This provision is completely unnecessary, for America has plenty of laws addressing treason, sedition and espionage. Indefinite detention is a cancer attacking liberty and must be excised, for there is no greater liberty than freedom from involuntary confinement.
The president took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. In an act of political expediency, he broke his promise.
I have no reservations in saying, “Shame on him.”
— Contact Ray Buursma through The Sentinel at newsroom@hollandsentinel.com.
