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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (6140)	9/28/2006 8:47:00 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 224729

PolParrot:Bush Victory-Senate Passes Bill on Detainee Interrogations By William Branigin Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 28, 2006 The Senate today passed a bill, backed by the White House, that sets the rules for interrogating and prosecuting detainees in the war on terrorism, allowing the CIA to continue a formerly secret program to extract information from key suspected terrorists and establishing special military tribunals to try them. The bill, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, passed by a vote of 65 to 34 after senators rejected four amendments supported mostly by Democrats. The bill is nearly identical to a bill passed yesterday by the House, which will vote on adopting the Senate language Friday. The votes came after President Bush visited the Capitol to rally Republican leaders in support of the legislation, which he said he hopes to sign soon. Earlier, the Senate narrowly rejected an amendment, sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), that would have allowed suspected terrorists to challenge their detention in federal court. Senators voted 51 to 48 against the amendment, which called for deleting from the bill a provision that rules out habeas corpus petitions for foreigners held in the war on terrorism. The writ of habeas corpus, which is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, allows people to challenge in court the legality of their detention, essentially meaning that they cannot be held indefinitely without charge or trial. The issue was one of the most contentious in the bill, which authorizes the president "to establish military commissions for the trial of alien unlawful enemy combatants engaged in hostilities against the United States for violations of the law of war and other offenses. . . ." Under the rules in the bill, statements obtained from a detainee by torture would not be admissible as evidence, but information extracted using harsh interrogation methods that violate a ban on "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" would be allowed if they were obtained before the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 went into effect on Dec. 30 and if a judge found them to be reliable and in the interests of justice. The proposed legislation would also set the parameters for interrogating terrorism suspects. It bars the president from authorizing any interrogation techniques that amount to war crimes, which it says include torture, murder, mutilation or maiming, rape, sexual abuse, serious bodily injury, hostage-taking, biological experiments and cruel or inhuman treatment. However, the president could "interpret the meaning and application" of Geneva Convention standards regarding less severe interrogation methods, the Associated Press reported. Under a compromise reached last week with three recalcitrant Republican senators, the bill omits a provision sought by Bush that interpreted U.S. obligations under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Critics said that provision amounted to redefining a key part of the conventions and would put captured U.S. troops at risk if an enemy decided to do the same. Before voting on the overall bill, senators today defeated three other amendments, including one offered by Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) that would have increased congressional oversight of the CIA detention and interrogation program. It went down 53 to 46. Another amendment, introduced by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), would have imposed a five-year limit on the military tribunals. It was rejected by a vote of 52 to 47. The third, proposed by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), would have specified banned interrogation techniques more explicitly. Opponents of Sen. Arlen Specter's amendment argued that the United States is under no obligation to allow enemy combatants access to federal courts in a time of war and that doing so would harm the military's effort to wage the war on terrorism. A nearly identical version of the overall bill passed the House yesterday by a vote of 253 to 168, handing President Bush a victory.