The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (S. 1867, Levin), which passed the Senate late Thursday night by a vote of 93-7, declares the entire United States of America a battleground. The bill, or a companion one similar to it, is now being debated in the House.
If passed out of the House and signed into law, the U.S. Military would be allowed to operate with impunity, having been granted the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate, and even assassinate United States citizens (or anyone else in the world) with impunity.
In a nutshell, almost every right under the Bill of Rights would be stripped away from American citizens.
Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) said that the act "denigrates the very foundations of this country."
Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) added, "it puts every single American citizen at risk."
Although authored by Senator Carl Levin, Sentors John McCain, Lindsay Graham, and Joe Liebermann have been major supporters.
