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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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October 17th, 2006 - Bush Signs
Bill Setting Detainee Rules |
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Bush Signs Bill Setting
Detainee Rules By Sheryl Gay Stolberg New York Times October 17, 2006 Washington - President Bush
signed legislation today that created new rules for prosecuting and
interrogating terror suspects, a move that Mr. Bush said would enable the
Central Intelligence Agency to resume a once-secret program to question the
most dangerous terrorists. “It is a rare occasion when
a president can sign a bill he knows will save American lives,” Mr. Bush said
during a formal ceremony in the East Room of the White House. He called the
bill “a way to deliver justice to the terrorists we have captured.” But the C.I.A. program is
unlikely to resume immediately. First, Mr. Bush must issue
an executive order clarifying the rules for questioning high-level detainees.
Many experts believe the harsh techniques the C.I.A. has used in the past,
including extended sleep deprivation and water-boarding, which induces a
feeling of drowning, will not be allowed under the new bill. The new law strips the
federal courts of jurisdiction to hear petitions from detainees for writs of
habeas corpus, meaning that terror suspects cannot go to court to challenge
the constitutionality of their confinement. As such, it has already spawned
one legal challenge and both supporters and critics say it is likely to
result in others. “Congress had no
justification for suspending the writ of habeas corpus - a core value in
American law - in order to avoid judicial review that prevents government
abuse,” said one leading critic, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont
Democrat who is his party’s senior member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He called it “a sad day when the rubberstamp Congress undercuts our
freedoms.” The president was surrounded
at the bill signing by senior members of his administration, including Vice
President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Michael
V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director. Senior Republican lawmakers, among them Senators
John W. Warner of Virginia and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who balked
at the initial White House version of the bill and forced a much-publicized
compromise, were also on hand. But the third leader of that
much-publicized Republican rebellion, Senator John McCain of Arizona, was
noticeably absent. Mr. McCain, a likely presidential contender in 2008,
skipped the ceremony to go to Wisconsin to campaign for a Republican House
member, John Gard, and was later headed to Sioux Falls, S.D., to address the
Chamber of Commerce there. A spokeswoman said the senator’s absence was
“purely an issue of scheduling.” With the November midterm
elections just three weeks away, Mr. Bush was hoping to use the bill signing
to turn the political debate back to the war on terror - a strong issue for
Republicans - and away from scandals like the Mark Foley case, which have
dominated the news in recent weeks. Moments before he sat down to sign the
measure, the president said he was doing so “in memory of the victims of
September the 11th.” Outside the White House,
protesters, some dressed in orange jumpsuits of the sort worn by detainees at
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, gathered around a makeshift black coffin painted with
the words “The Corpse of Habeas Corpus.” Police arrested several of the
protesters when they refused to move away from the White House gates. The bill Mr. Bush signed
today came in response to a Supreme Court ruling, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, that
invalidated the system of military commissions that Mr. Bush had set up for
trying terror suspects, saying they required Congressional authorization. The
court also said terror suspects had to be treated in accordance with a
provision of the Geneva Conventions, Common Article Three, that prohibits
cruel and inhumane treatment, including “outrages upon personal dignity.” Last month, Mr. Bush
acknowledged the existence of the secret C.I.A. program and said he was
sending its remaining 14 terror operatives - including Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, the reputed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks - to the detention
center at Guantánamo Bay. He called on Congress to pass a bill setting up
military commissions and establishing new standards for interrogation so that
the C.I.A. program could go forward. “This program has been one
of the most successful intelligence efforts in American history,” Mr. Bush
said today. “It has helped prevent attacks on our country. And the bill I
sign today will ensure that we can continue using this vital tool to protect
the American people for years to come.” Critics of the measure,
including civil liberties and human rights groups, were skeptical of that
assertion. “What the president didn’t
say is that the abusive interrogation techniques that were the basis for the
program are now criminalized,” said Jennifer Daskal, the advocacy director
for Human Rights Watch, a human rights group. “So while in theory he can
continue to hold people in secret, he is clearly prohibited from engaging in
the types of abuse that seem to be the entire basis and motivation for the
program,” she said in an interview. External link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/washington/18detaincnd.html Bush signs law authorizing
harsh interrogation By Steve Holland Reuters Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:54 AM ET Washington - President
George W. Bush signed a law on Tuesday authorizing tough interrogation and
prosecution of terrorism suspects and took an indirect, election-year swipe
at Democrats who opposed the legislation. Bush, trying to help
Republicans maintain control of the U.S. Congress by emphasizing national
security, called the Military Commissions Act of 2006 "one of the most
important pieces of legislation in the war on terror." Human rights groups charge
that the measure would allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as
sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia. In a White House East Room
ceremony, Bush praised members of Congress who approved the law over the
opposition of the Democratic leadership in both the Senate and House of Representatives. "Every member of the
Congress who voted for this bill has helped our nation rise to the task that
history has given us. Some voted to support this bill even when a majority of
their party voted the other way," Bush said. Much of the new law, which
critics say still does not protect detainees' rights and predict will face
legal challenge, was negotiated in September after senior Republicans
rebelled against Bush's plan. The new law means Bush can
continue a secret CIA program for interrogating terrorism suspects whom he
believes have vital information that could thwart a plot against America. Bush said the law will allow
intelligence professionals to question suspects without fear of being sued by
them later. "This bill spells out
specific recognizable offenses that would be considered crimes in the
handling of detainees so that our men and women who question captured
terrorists can perform their duties to the fullest extent of the law,"
he said. The White House has refused
to describe what techniques will be allowed or banned. Challenges seen Critics and legal experts
have predicted the new law will draw vigorous court challenges and could be
struck down for violating rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. They cited provisions that
strip foreign suspects of the right to challenge their detentions in U.S.
courts and what they described as unfair rules for military trials. Bush insisted the law
complies with the spirit and letter of international agreements. "As
I've said before, the United States does not torture. It's against our laws
and it's against our values," he said. The law also establishes
military tribunals for terrorism suspects, most of whom are held at the U.S.
military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The law was prompted by a
Supreme Court ruling in June that said Bush lacked legislative authority in
setting up his first system of military commissions. Future legal battles
will likely also end up in the high court. Shortly after Bush signed the
law, the Republican National Committee issued a press releasing headlined,
"Democrats would let terrorists free" and listed the names of many
House and Senate Democrats who opposed it. The American Civil Liberties
Union expressed outrage, calling the new law "one of the worst civil
liberties measures ever enacted in American history." "Nothing separates
America more from our enemies than our commitment to fairness and the rule of
law, but the bill signed today is an historic break because it turns Guantanamo
Bay and other U.S. facilities into legal no-man's-lands," said ACLU
Executive Director Anthony Romero. © Reuters 2006. External link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101700522.html |