NDAA plaintiffs fear U.S. citizens already in military detention

Chris Hedges and Daniel Ellsberg shared their views on Reddit

Published September 27, 2012 9:45PM (EDT)

  ((Wikimedia))
((Wikimedia))

A group of journalists and activists took to content sharing site Reddit today to answer questions on their lawsuit against President Obama's indefinite detention act. In his responses, one of the plaintiffs, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges, said he believed that there are already U.S. citizens held in military detention by the U.S. at home and abroad.

Chris Hedges and Daniel Ellsberg are among the six plaintiffs (others include Noam Chomsky and Naomi Wolf) who recently won a permanent block from a federal judge against the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) and its provision to allow the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens. The Obama administration's attorneys immediately filed an appeal to overturn the judge's decision.

Responding to a Reddit questioner who asked why the plaintiffs thought Obama was so swift to challenge the injunction, Hedges responded that it raised a "red flag" -- suggesting that the administration was already in violation of the injunction. Hedges wrote:

Since they [the Obama administration] were so aggressive it means that once Judge Forrest declared the law invalid, if they were using it, as we expect, they could be held in contempt of court. This was quite disturbing, for it means, I suspect, that U.S. citizens, probably dual nationals, are being held in military detention facilities almost certainly overseas and maybe at home.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Barack Obama Chris Hedges Daniel Ellsberg Indefinite Detention Ndaa Reddit U.s. Citizens