Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Thom Hartmann: Is perpetual war about to become law of the land?

Thom plus logo

Is perpetual war about to become law of the land? The House Armed Services Committee recently passed the National Defense Authorization Act - a bill that authorized funding to the Department of Defense. And deep within the bill - in Section 1034 - there's a provision that affirms we are at war with Al-Qaeda and hands over war powers to the President until "the termination of hostilities." In other words - it lets the President commit our nation to endless war until every single terrorist is dead.

The ACLU calls the provision the, "single biggest hand-over of unchecked war authority from Congress to the executive branch in modern American history." The provision was slipped in by Republican Congressman Buck McKeon - and only one member of the Armed Services Committee voted against the bill - Democrat John Garamendi. Garamendi offer an amendment to strike Section 1034 - but it was shot down - paving the way for endless war - and endless profits for defense contractors - who throw around huge campaign contributions. In Orwell's book 1984 - Big Brother famously said, "War is Peace." And George W. Bush took this to heart when he started the War on Terror. But the truth is - there's nothing worse for a nation than endless war.

As James Madison - one of the founders of our nation wrote, "No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of perpetual war."

-Thom

(Is America in a perpetual state of war? Tell us here.)

No comments: