Bush Submits New Terror Detainee Bill

[Guest guest]

This is it. This is what the camps are for.

We've got to fight this tooth and nail, if we're to have any chance of saving

our country (as we know it).

==

 

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2006/07/28/ap2912810.html

 

Bush Submits New Terror Detainee Bill

By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY ,

07.28.2006, 06:53 PM

 

U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred

from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush

administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill.

 

A 32-page draft measure is intended to authorize the Pentagon's tribunal system,

established shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to detain and prosecute

detainees captured in the war on terror. The tribunal system was thrown out last

month by the Supreme Court.

 

Administration officials, who declined to comment on the draft, said the

proposal was still under discussion and no final decisions had been made.

 

Senior officials are expected to discuss a final proposal before the Senate

Armed Services Committee next Wednesday.

 

According to the draft, the military would be allowed to detain all " enemy

combatants " until hostilities cease. The bill defines enemy combatants as anyone

" engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners who

has committed an act that violates the law of war and this statute. "

 

Legal experts said Friday that such language is dangerously broad and could

authorize the military to detain indefinitely U.S. citizens who had only tenuous

ties to terror networks like al Qaeda.

 

" That's the big question ... the definition of who can be detained, " said Martin

Lederman, a law professor at Georgetown University who posted a copy of the bill

to a Web blog.

 

Scott L. Silliman, a retired Air Force Judge Advocate, said the broad definition

of enemy combatants is alarming because a U.S. citizen loosely suspected of

terror ties would lose access to a civilian court - and all the rights that come

with it. Administration officials have said they want to establish a secret

court to try enemy combatants that factor in realities of the battlefield and

would protect classified information.

 

The administration's proposal, as considered at one point during discussions,

would toss out several legal rights common in civilian and military courts,

including barring hearsay evidence, guaranteeing " speedy trials " and granting a

defendant access to evidence. The proposal also would allow defendants to be

barred from their own trial and likely allow the submission of coerced

testimony.

 

Senior Republican lawmakers have said they were briefed on the general

discussions and have some concerns but are awaiting a final proposal before

commenting on specifics.

 

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England

are expected to discuss the proposal in an open hearing next Wednesday before

the Senate Armed Services Committee. Military lawyers also are scheduled to

testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

 

The legislation is the administration's response to a June 29 Supreme Court

decision, which concluded the Pentagon could not prosecute military detainees

using secret tribunals established soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist

attacks. The court ruled the tribunals were not authorized by law and violated

treaty obligations under the Geneva Conventions, which established many

international laws for warfare.

 

The landmark court decision countered long-held assertions by the Bush

administration that the president did not need permission from Congress to

prosecute " enemy combatants " captured in the war on terror and that al Qaeda

members were not subject to Geneva Convention protections because of their

unconventional status.

 

" In a time of ongoing armed conflict, it is neither practicable nor appropriate

for enemy combatants like al Qaeda terrorists to be tried like American citizens

in federal courts or courts-martial, " the proposal states.

 

The draft proposal contends that an existing law - passed by the Senate last

year after exhaustive negotiations between the White House and Sen. John McCain,

R-Ariz. - that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment should " fully satisfy "

the nation's obligations under the Geneva Conventions.

 

Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said

Friday he expects to take up the detainee legislation in September.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not

be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

 

 

 

" To be nobody-but-myself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to

make me everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being

can fight, and never stop fighting. " -e.e. cummings-

 

 

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