Well, three and a half hours and we're slowly getting toward the truth. Slowly.
Let's take a look at section 1032 again, shall we?
SEC. 1032. REQUIREMENT FOR MILITARY CUSTODY.
(a) Custody Pending Disposition Under Law of War-
(1) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in paragraph (4), the Armed Forces of the United States shall hold a person described in paragraph (2) who is
captured in the course of hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) in military custody pending
disposition under the law of war.
So this section determines that the military (Armed Forces) shall hold prisoners. OK, so far so good. Who shall they hold?
(2) COVERED PERSONS- The requirement in paragraph (1) shall apply to any person whose detention is authorized under section 1031 who is
determined--
(A) to be a member of, or part of, al-Qaeda or an associated force that acts in coordination with or pursuant to the direction of al-Qaeda; and
(B) to have participated in the course of planning or carrying out an attack or attempted attack against the United States or its coalition
partners.
Anyone connected with Al-Qaeda or a similar association, or anyone who attacks the USA or its allies. OK, I can go along with that. But what about
this exception?
(4) WAIVER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY- The Secretary of Defense may, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of National
Intelligence, waive the requirement of paragraph (1) if the Secretary submits to Congress a certification in writing that such a waiver is in the
national security interests of the United States.
OK, so they can make exceptions and let people go as long they do this paperwork thingy. But it goes on:
(b) Applicability to United States Citizens and Lawful Resident Aliens-
(1) UNITED STATES CITIZENS- The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United
States.
So the requirement in paragraph (1) does not apply to US citizens. Now the concern is apparently over why it doesn't simply say "This does not apply
to US citizens". That's because anyone who attacks the military on a battlefield
becomes an enemy combatant.
Oh! The horror! Does that mean, you say, that I can't walk onto a battlefield and attack soldiers without the soldiers attacking back?
Yes, it
does. Duh. American, British, Turk, Russian, Chinese, Martian does not matter at that point. You jump into a military conflict, you just became a
legitimate target.
One guy made that mistake a while ago. Remember the citizen Obama had assassinated? That's what this is all about. Not about locking people up inside
US cities, but about allowing the military to handle enemy combatants,
including Americans who want to get involved in military conflicts,
under wartime law regardless of citizenship.
Now that the secret is out of the bag, we can continue on to whether or not this is a good thing. I have mixed feelings, personally.
TheRedneck
(all excerpts from
thomas.loc.gov...)