Senate Passes Terror Detainee Bill

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

(CBS/AP)  Approving the bill before lawmakers leave for the elections has been a top priority for Republicans. Party leaders fought off attempts by Democrats and a lone Republican to change the bill, ensuring swift passage.

By a mostly party-line votes, the Senate rejected Democratic efforts to limit the bill to five years, to require frequent reports from the administration on the CIA's interrogations and to add a list of forbidden interrogation techniques.

The legislation could let Bush begin prosecuting terrorists connected to the Sept. 11 attacks just as voters go to the polls in November and let Republicans use opposition by Democrats as fodder for criticizing them during the campaign.

"Some want to tie the hands of our terror fighters," said Republican Senator Christopher Bond. "They want to take away the tools we use to fight terror, to handcuff us, to hamper us in our fight to protect our families."

Democrats contended the legislation could set a dangerous precedent that might invite other countries to mistreat captured Americans. Their opposition focused on language that would bar detainees from going to federal court to protest their detention and treatment, a right referred to as "habeas corpus."

"The habeas corpus language in this bill is as legally abusive of rights guaranteed in the Constitution as the actions at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and secret prisons that were physically abusive of detainees," said Senator Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.

Bush went to Capitol Hill Thursday morning, urging senators to follow the House lead and approve the plan. Without naming his opponents, he seemed to stop just short of warning them to support the measure.

"The American people need to know we're working together to win the war on terror," he told reporters as he left.

Earlier Thursday, the Senate voted 51-48 against an amendment by Sen. Arlen Specter that would have allowed terror suspects to file "habeas corpus" petitions in court. Specter contends the ability to file such pleas is considered a fundamental legal right and is necessary to uncover abuse.

The bill prohibits war crimes and defines atrocities such as rape and torture. Otherwise it allows the president to interpret the Geneva Conventions, the treaty that sets standards for the treatment of war prisoners.

The legislation was in response to a Supreme Court ruling in June that Bush's plan to hold and prosecute terrorists was illegal and violated the Geneva Conventions.

Bush had determined before the ruling that his executive powers gave him the right to detain and prosecute so-called enemy combatants.

He decided these detainees, being held at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and in secret CIA prisons elsewhere in the world, should not be afforded Geneva Convention protections. Members of al Qaeda were unlike past prisoners of war, ignoring the laws of war and not fighting on behalf of sovereign states, said White House lawyers.

U.S. officials said the Supreme Court ruling threw cold water on the CIA's interrogation program, which they said had been helpful in getting valuable intelligence from terrorists.

Under the bill, a terror suspect being held at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba can be tried by military commission so long as he is afforded certain rights, such as the ability to confront evidence given to the jury and access to defense counsel.

CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen points out that the reach of the bill has been expanded to include non-citizens who are legal residents of the U.S.

Those subject to commission trials would be any person "who has engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States or its co-belligerents." Proponents say this definition would not apply to U.S. citizens but would allow the detention and prosecution of individuals financing terrorist networks.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[omicronthree]

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

[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.

[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.

[searingtruth]

iloveusa

Thank you.

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

[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]

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

[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]

"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

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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]

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.

[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".

[itchybrain]

they're all ******!