General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Obama should never have signed the NDAA into law, signing statements or not. [View all]sad sally
(2,627 posts)Part of the signing statement said:
Sections 1023-1025 needlessly interfere with the executive branchs processes for reviewing the status of detainees. Going forward, consistent with congressional intent as detailed in the Conference Report, my Administration will interpret section 1024 as granting the Secretary of Defense broad discretion to determine what detainee status determinations in Afghanistan are subject to the requirements of this section.
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Because this provision is prospective, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to determine the extent, if any, to which such procedures will be applied to detainees for whom status determinations have already been made prior to the date of the enactment of this Act.
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So, we trust that the current and future Defense Secs. will make correct determinations? Ask those Afghans that have been held without any due process if they trust the signing statement.
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(CBS News) Updated 11/15/11
KABUL, Afghanistan - The former prisoner of the American military in his native Afghanistan entered the office leaning on a crutch. He said he had trouble walking after spending a year confined to a 35-square-foot jail cell at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, about an hour's drive north of the capital, Kabul.
He agreed to speak with us only if we kept his identity hidden. We agreed to call him just "Mohammed."
"Our cells were like cages," Mohammed spoke in Dari through a translator. "We couldn't see anything outside."
The cage-like cells for some Bagram detainees were part of a $60 million renovation in 2009. Mohammed, who was detained that June, believes disgruntled neighbors tipped U.S. troops about him following a land dispute. His family did not learn for six months why he had disappeared.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57323856/bagram-the-other-guantanamo/?du