December 3, 2011, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement calling on President Obama to honor his promise to veto the controversial National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed on Thursday by the Senate:

The National Defense Authorization Act is a radical piece of legislation that makes indefinite military detention without charge or trial a permanent feature of the American legal system. These provisions, buried deep within the NDAA, are a result of the precedent set by President Obama’s failure to uphold U.S. and international human rights law by closing Guantánamo. Other sections of the NDAA strengthen restrictions on transferring and resettling detainees, 89 of whom have been unanimously cleared by the CIA, FBI, NSC and Defense Department for transfer or release, yet remain at Guantánamo. Failure to veto the NDAA would confirm that, rather than reversing the misguided and unconstitutional policies of the Bush administration, President Obama has intensified them. As Obama himself, along with President Bush and NDAA co-sponsor Senator John McCain, said during the presidential campaign, Guantánamo has become a symbol of human rights violations and denial of due process, and its existence makes us less safe.  By vetoing the NDAA, President Obama can finally make good on his many promises to begin to undo some of this damage.