The most bizarre part of Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is that almost no one has heard about it.
And whoever has heard about it, doesn’t want to talk about it.
It’s almost as if someone took Dr. Goebbels’ "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed" - dictum and mutated it into a 21st century super weapon:
"Tell the truth, but make it so shocking that no one wants to hear about it."
No one wants to hear about the military having the power to detain you on American soil, without due process, indefinitely, at the discretion of the President. It sounds too Stalin. It reeks of conspiracy theory. Besides, it’s clearly unconstitutional. So let’s go get some lunch.
That’s why on December 4, 2012, the new NDAA passed the Senate with a 98-0 vote. Almost everyone was out to lunch.
Except seven individuals who decided to sue Obama instead. But other than that, the resulting rumpus was minor.