Do We Need to Bring Back Internment Camps?
By Ron Paul
July 27, 2015 "Information
Clearing House"
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Last week, Retired General Wesley Clark,
who was NATO commander during the US bombing of Serbia, proposed
that “disloyal Americans” be sent to internment camps for the
“duration of the conflict.” Discussing the recent military base
shootings in Chattanooga, TN, in which five US service members were
killed, Clark recalled the internment of American citizens during
World War II who were merely suspected of having Nazi sympathies. He
said: “back then we didn’t say ‘that was freedom of speech,’ we put
him in a camp.”
He called for the government to identify people most likely to be
radicalized so we can “cut this off at the beginning.” That sounds
like “pre-crime”!
Gen. Clark ran for president in 2004 and it’s probably a good thing
he didn’t win considering what seems to be his disregard for the
Constitution. Unfortunately in the current presidential race Donald
Trump even one-upped Clark, stating recently that NSA whistleblower
Edward Snowden is a traitor and should be treated like one, implying
that the government should kill him.
These statements and others like them most likely reflect the
frustration felt in Washington over a 15 year war on terror where
there has been no victory and where we actually seem worse off than
when we started. The real problem is they will argue and bicker over
changing tactics but their interventionist strategy remains the
same.
Retired Army Gen. Mike Flynn, who was head of the Defense
Intelligence Agency during the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, told
al-Jazeera this week that US drones create more terrorists than they
kill. He said: “The more weapons we give, the more bombs we drop,
that just … fuels the conflict.”
Still Washington pursues the same strategy while expecting different
results.
It is probably almost inevitable that the warhawks will turn their
anger inward, toward Americans who are sick of the endless and
costly wars. The US loss of the Vietnam war is still blamed by many
on the protesters at home rather than on the foolishness of the war
based on a lie in the first place.
Let’s hope these threats from Clark and Trump are not a trial
balloon leading to a clampdown on our liberties. There are a few
reasons we should be concerned. Last week the US House passed a bill
that would allow the Secretary of State to unilaterally cancel an
American citizen’s passport if he determines that person has “aided”
or “abetted” a terrorist organization. And as of this writing, the
Senate is debating a highway funding bill that would allow the
Secretary of State to cancel the passport of any American who owes
too much money to the IRS.
Canceling a passport means removing the right to travel, which is a
kind of virtual internment camp. The person would find his movements
restricted, either being prevented from leaving or entering the
United States. Neither of these measures involves any due process or
possibility of appeal, and the government’s evidence supporting the
action can be kept secret.
We should demand an end to these foolish wars that even the experts
admit are making matters worse. Of course we need a strong defense,
but we should not provoke the hatred of others through drones,
bombs, or pushing regime change overseas. And we must protect our
civil liberties here at home from government elites who increasingly
view us as the enemy.
Copyright © 2015 by RonPaul Institute.
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