‘Veto threat was a mere political theater’

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Terror suspects in America could be held in prison indefinitely – without charge or trial. The military will be able to take custody of alleged terrorists virtually without question. Critics say this would be a stark violation of human rights.

­The controversial National Defense Authorization Act, which was met with criticism from human rights activists, faced a presidential veto, but since last month Obama has retracted his warning.

“The White House explained it would veto the bill because these provisions, mandating military custody amount to a restriction of president’s authority,” explains John Glaser, assistant editor at Antiwar.com.

“But in truth it’s reasonable to assume that a veto threat was a mere political theater, because Senator Carl Levin one of the provision’s primary authors revealed during senate debate that it was the Obama administration itself who requested the inclusion of language mandating military detentions, including US citizens. So you could say the administration never changed their minds, it was just a sort of doing it for public consumption,” he told RT.

Australian police officer gains anti-terrorism expertise from Cheshire force | Macclesfield Express – menmedia.co.uk

December 14, 2011

Team Leader Nick Barrett from the Australian Federal Police (left), Inspector Graeme Trevis from the Police National Search Centre and other officers taking part in the specialist search training course

An Australian police officer joined Cheshire police for specialist training to combat terrorism.

Nick Barrett, a team leader with the Australian Federal Police (AFP), joined 25 Cheshire officers on the specialist search training course.

The exercises included combing buildings, vehicles, fields, roads and other open areas for items which could be parts of improvised explosive devices.

The AFP is planning to set up a similar course in Australia.