Senate Passes Terror Detainee Bill

Endorses President Bush's Plan To Create Military Commissions, 65-34

(CBS/AP)  The Senate passed legislation that endorsed President George W. Bush's plan to prosecute and interrogate terrorism suspects, all but sealing approval for a bill Republicans plan to use to spotlight their tough stance against terrorists weeks ahead of congressional elections.

The 65-34 vote means the bill could reach the president's desk by week's end to be signed into law.

The House of Representatives passed almost identical legislation on Wednesday by 253-168 and was expected to endorse the Senate bill on Friday, then ship it to the White House.

There are some "technical corrections" to be dealt with, however, and the bill may have to go back to the House for another vote before it goes down to the White House, reports CBS News correspondent John Nolen.

"The Senate sent a strong signal to the terrorists that we will continue using every element of national power to pursue our enemies and to prevent attacks on America," Bush said in a statement Thursday night.

The White House was less successful in gaining congressional approval of the president's warrantless wiretapping program. Although the House approved by a 232-191 vote a bill that would grant legal status to the program with new restrictions, the measure differed so much from the Senate version that a reconciliation effort appeared unlikely before the November elections.

The detainee bill would create military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects. It also would prohibit blatant abuses of detainees but grant the president flexibility to decide what interrogation techniques are permissible.

The White House and its supporters have called the measure crucial in the anti-terror fight, but some Democrats said it left the door open to abuse, violating the U.S. Constitution in the name of protecting Americans.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who helped draft the legislation during negotiations with the White House, said the measure set up a system for treating detainees that the nation can be proud of. He said the goal "is to render justice to the terrorists, even though they will not render justice to us."

Democrats said the Republicans' rush to muscle the measure through Congress was aimed at giving them something to boast about during the campaign, in which control of the House and Senate are at stake. Election Day is Nov. 7.

"There is no question that the rush to pass this bill, which is the product of secret negotiations with the White House, is about serving a political agenda," said Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy.

Senate approval was the latest step in the remarkable journey that Bush has taken in shaping how the United States treats terrorism suspects it has been holding, some for almost five years without charges.

In June the Supreme Court nullified Bush's initial system for trying detainees, and this month a handful of maverick senators from Bush's Republicans embarrassed the president by forcing him to slightly tone down his next proposal. They struck a deal last week, and the president and congressional Republicans are now claiming the episode as a victory.

While Democrats warned the bill could open the way for abuse, Republicans said rejection of the bill would put the country at risk of another terror attack such as the ones on Sept. 11, 2001.

"We are not conducting a law enforcement operation against a check-writing scam or trying to foil a bank heist," said Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. "We are at war against extremists who want to kill our citizens."

[mwe3wm]

I want to thank CBS for this forum.

I wonder how President Bush will interpret this law with his signing statement. I am sure he will say this is a good suggestion, but he reserves the right to hold anyone he deems an enemy combatant as long as necessary.

I will make sure that I keep clean shaven, un-tanned, do not donate money to any organization, do not open my home to anyone that does not look like me, never make calls over seas, and always refer to a group of people as Ya'll with the hope I will never be considered an enemy combatant.

The Republican party has a great opportunity to keep this momentum going and allow President Bush a third term. If they can write this into law and expect to get away with it, then changing The Constitution will be a breeze.

Michael Edwards
Texas

[ronniehm]

"I will make sure that I keep clean shaven, un-tanned, do not donate money to any organization, do not open my home to anyone that does not look like me, never make calls over seas, and always refer to a group of people as Ya'll with the hope I will never be considered an enemy combatant. "

Naturally, there will always be a few crackpots who think this is how we locate enemy combatants. The rest of us are aware that our soldiers aren't that stupid.

[jumkey]

Actually RonnieHM, apparently how we locate "enemy combatants" is we pay for false information from unreliable sources which we then use to incarcerate innocent people.

Then we torture them.

[ronniehm]

Actually, most of them are detained by our soldiers during raids and military battles.

Then they say we tortured them.

[bivkite]

"Naturally, there will always be a few crackpots who think this is how we locate enemy combatants. The rest of us are aware that our soldiers aren't that stupid."

You know, all bias aside, apparently it is now written law that courts can use "hearsay" (secondhand testimony) as evidence. This obviously sounds like a way to make it hard for people (even US residents) who are making it hard for the anti-terrorism movement. So, it doesn't sound like our government particularly cares where it gets its facts or not - just that it has the ability to come out on top. Also, our soldiers are not stupid at all. I, even though I look down upon today's actions and the war, respect our soldiers and I hope they come out on top. I think, however, that our American soldiers are being used as pawns in a political war of much more importance and of more consequence than this "war on terror."

On a side note, we as Americans have it easy. We got bombed one time a few years ago and yes it was tragic, but there are people especially in the east who face fear and tragedy everyday. And here we are acting as if the "war on terror" has come to the doorstep of the US.... Far from it....

[ronniehm]

There have always been many exceptions to the "rule" about not using hearsay as evidence. I think your perception comes from television court dramas. It's false.

[ronniehm]

I'm not even aware that this bill has anything to do with hearsay, so I'm not really sure your comment applies anyway.

[bivkite]

Ronnie, I'm interested to know what, if any, qualms you have with this new bill. I just find it interesting that you're putting so much effort into defending it by trying to knock down other people's arguments against it.

[erwilso]

You don't have to worry about the end of habeas corpus if your a W.A.S.P ! God help if your driving
while black. Wecome to the new u.s.a. powered by
FASCISM!!!

[ronniehm]

blvkite, I'm not sure I would call it an effort. I know the laws regarding hearsay, and I'm pretty sure every person who has a beard is not in danger of being called an enemy combatant. So I pointed it out to people who think otherwise. What's that's got to do with defending the bill? It's just reality. Use it as a defense or an attack as you see fit. I don't care as long as it's based on the facts and not some ridiculous paranoia. I guess my only qualm with the bill is that it's become necessary to legislate the rights of terrorists because of the accusations of terrorists. That seems a little weird to me.

[itchybrain]

they're all ******!

[walt1944]

Today, the "enemy combatants" are anyone who isn't WASP and doesn't believe that George Bush is God.

Tomorrow, that enemy combatant terrorist, could be YOU, simply because your hair isn't blond and your eyes aren't blue!

Looks like the Prophet George has been reading "Mein Kampf". *** Cheney and and Airhead Rumsfeld passed it on to the Prophet for his "enlightenment".

[shutupmurtha]

Good, now are men in Iraq are catching these sick life hating muslim terrorists for a reason. I am glad Bush's plan succeeded!!!!

Sorry libs, your push to protect terrorists failed.

[shutupmurtha]

wrogal, you said: "Today, the "enemy combatants" are anyone who isn't WASP and doesn't believe that George Bush is God."

wrogal, I see you are very upset and to be quite frank with you....YOU ARE AN IDIOT. Such blunt racism from the left....is this person serious?

Are you really that angry that you are going to be more protected from terrorism because of this bill? So angry that you would resort to showing your apparrent distain for white people and protestant christians?

Why protestant? Do you hate catholics to an equal degree? Why do you hate anglosaxons? And ummmm.. how are those people "enemy combatants"?...lol

Because they are fighting for YOUR saftey? Or is it because you are a terrorist and you dont want to see your friends interrogated?

For such an outrageous and telling statement, maybe you should support it better.....you think?

[shutupmurtha]

wrogal, If you are looking for a place where you can make such blind, racist, and hateful accusations, I would suggest calling the Al Franken show on Air America....Who knows that may even be to far for him....and they could use a boost right now because they plummeting into bankruptcy.

[searingtruth]

"History is replete with examples of its own iteration."
SearingTruth

"Five coincidences make a plan."
SearingTruth

"It is an old tale. Catastrophe assaults the senses of a free nation. Fear, a tyrant's only ally, is seized. Democracy, a despot's greatest foe, is assaulted. The people, liberties only defense, are subdued. All in accomplice of those sworn, upon death, to protect them."
SearingTruth

"I do not reveal the unknown, only the forgotten."
SearingTruth

Freedom Clock - www.searingtruth.com

[sharncedar]

A difficult matter for me to face. These arguments in favor of torture and forced self-incrimination being necessary for the preservation of the state have been made before, a good historical survey for those of you wanting to fully understand the evil you have wrought is the Soviet Union.

Here in the land of freedom it is particularily sad. 200 years of history. My G*d people, is this really what you want? Torture to force a confession, people in prisons for years and years without charges, arbitrary powers to a president who becomes more and more a tyrant.

There is always some crisis or another. The real crisis as forewarned by our ancestors was the rise of a man who desired power without limits. Who will be the one who follows Bush? Who will he feel it necessary to torture and force to prison for some new crisis?

Really, are you conservatives mad. It will almost certainly be you who goes under the knives and then into the darkness. Tyrants rule from the left, as it gives satisfaction to the masses.

It will be you, numbered, hidden, and what law can you appeal to? You wrote the laws yourselves by which you will be deprived of your liberties. It is the rich and conservatives that are the first victims of tyrants, yet you made the knife, you gave it to the president, whoever he might be, an evil or good man, forever from this day.

[sharncedar]

As I read this news story again, I myself, a very tolerant man, am ready to begin the purge against the right wing, using these new powers the fools gave us. The demographics favor men like Hugo Chavez in the presidency of the future, ever looked around you at America's children?. If we can't have freedom, won't we accept revenge .. it is a common historical pattern.

I would prefer freedom, but if we cannot have it, then people on the radical left should look at this as a great day. The Republicans have just voted powers to the presidency allowing the arbitrary incarcertion and torture of any individual deemed a threat. At least, without freedom, we may have the satisfaction of seeing these smug butchers hoisted by their own pitard. How will McCain hold up under torture the second time? The smug a**.

Viva El Presidente! Protect us from our enemies, wink wink.

[searingtruth]

"And then, in all my passion and sacrifice, I found myself only a number to be counted."
SearingTruth

"The smell of torture, the smell of death, the smell of fear ... the smell of America."
SearingTruth

"History does not record a government of the people assured in secret."
SearingTruth

Freedom Clock - www.searingtruth.com

[jumkey]

No, actually RonnieHM WE said we tortured them. Or, more acturately, we decided what we did wasn't torture. We just changed what we called it to "interrogation". The rest of the civilized world, and the Geneva Conventions, still call it torture. You do remember when your President couldn't come up with a definition of "human dignity" don't you?

Some of the prisoners we actually tortured to death in Abu Ghraib - or whatever you people call it when your victims die. I've even heard some of your ilk call it a "solution".

We human beings call it murder.

[searingtruth]

Mirror

My friends, sometimes the most difficult thing about fighting evil is realizing that it actually exists, and then unambiguously and forcefully calling it what it is.

History shows time and time again that one of evils greatest strengths is its ability to disguise itself as good, or at least a temporary necessity, until that last fatal moment when its revelation becomes clear, indisputable, and inescapable.

So today let us take a clear and unadulterated look into the mirror at ourselves.

Just six years ago we were one of the most respected and admired defenders of democracy and human rights in history. Respected not only by our friends, but even begrudgingly by most of our enemies. In fact, even the fantastic power of our military paled in comparison to the overwhelming might of our moral authority.

Today we are a nation that operates secret prisons occupied by anonymous inmates, illegally abducted and held indefinitely without charge or representation. We are guilty of torture. We are guilty of murder. We are guilty of preemptive war of conquest. We are guilty of the wholesale surveillance of our population, suppressing all hope of privacy and free dissent. And we are guilty of disgracing our nation through the abandonment of even our most basic precepts of morality.

If this is not evil, then nothing we have ever fought against is evil, and nothing we have ever fought for is good.


Freedom Clock - www.searingtruth.com

[iloveusa-2009]

I'm not afraid to die in a terrorist attack (or car crash or west nile mosquito), so please Mr. Bush, no need torture people on my account. You're either with me or your a pinko.

[searingtruth]

iloveusa

Thank you.

"Republicans are running into all the same old problems as enemies before, too many Americans."
SearingTruth

[jetauma]

This bill also has a provision to protect Bush, et al from future prosecution for abuse violations of the geneva convention statutes. Bush gets to sign his own protection bill!.
Let's see: 65 senators agree to let Bush decide how, when, and where prisoners will be tortured. He decides the kind of trial (if any) these presumably innocent (that was our way of law) people will get.

Fascism is alive and well in America.

[observantx]

Our constitution is now toilet paper.

These men have violated the oath they swore to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. That was to UPHOLD and DEFEND, not redefine and euphemize. They did it with their hands on the Bible. A book that they so fervently declare to be sacred to them.

Now we know what is sacred to them.

POWER, that is their god. That is what they worship.

I want my government not to protect me, but to protect our constitution and the freedoms it guarantees.

This shameless sham in the runup to the election is about maintaining power and control. These people need to go. Vote them out! Every single citizen of this country has to go to the polls and take back their freedom for themselves and their children.

[omicronthree]

I guess we should be careful what we post... We may disappear one night....

[houser123]

I am hopeful that the American voters will see this bill for excatly what it is. A way for the Republicnas to claim some sort of advantage over their apponents by voting for this piece of garbage legislation. Never in our history have we been so disrespected in the world and held in such low esteem. Once power shifts in our great country and it will, it will be interesting to see how the Republicans react to have given a Democratic president such unchecked power. Do you think they will be ringing the bell and shouting what a great job they are doing, I think not. At that time they will say, well we need to re-evaluate that decision based on what we know now. These guys are such hypocrites it is truly unbelievable. I can only hope that the Democratic party takes control of one house of the legislation this year to provide oversight and put forth new ideas and visions.

[ronniehm]

No, actually jumkey, we did not say that. You said that based on the accusations of terrorists and your ability to read minds to determine their integrity.

[pannohome]

What a sad day for the nation and all the American people. We have given up to Bush and his cronies another right. When do we stop and uphold the values that America was built on.

[usawatchman]

These Questions are BEFORE the US Supreme Court this week
IS US SUPREME COURT as CORRUPT as the rest of the GOVERNMENT?
If we do not have JUSTICE in the COURTS
We NO LONGER have a COUNTRY of the PEOPLE..
====
No. 05-1467 IN THE
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
____
JAMES B. VEASAW - PETITIONER
Vs.
CARI M DOMINGUEZ, wt al.- RESPONDENTS
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO
UNITED STATES FIFTH CIRCUIT COURT
PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
JAMES B. VEASAW
Edited out
QUESTIONS PRESENTED

1) Are State and Federal Employees IMMUNE to commit CRIMES against the PEOPLE in order to GAIN the upper hand in a Court Case or Administrative investigation and/or Process , without any fear of RETRIBUTION in the COURTS?
2) Are FEDERALLY FUNDED PROGRAMS accessible by All Citizen for whom the programs were designed for, or are they just really WORK PROGRAMS designed to give CRONIES and BUREAUCRATS high paying Jobs?
3) Must the citizens of this country PASS LITERARY TESTS in order to receive PROTECTION in the COURTS
(i.e. say the "MAGIC WORDS" for justice)
(i.e. put the "MAGIC WORDS" on " MAGIC PAPER ")?
4) Are theses laws CONSTITUTIONAL, If these laws are not EQUALLY apply to ALL (STATE, FEDERAL, CORPORATE)?
5) I think (are) ALL of you ARE CORRUPT ?
6) CAN THE PETITIONER GET MORE JUSTICE WITH A $10 BOX OF AMMO, THAN WHAT CAN EVER BE FOUND IN ALL THE CORRUPT UNITED STATES COURT ROOMS.?
COURT DOCUMENT
EDITED OUT
For 1500 word limit