Posted on 09/28/2006 8:54:10 AM PDT by MNJohnnie
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1709588/posts?page=1
House passes detainee bill
Republicans pushed a bill supported by President George W. Bush to set rules for interrogating and trying terrorism suspects through the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday and Senate Republicans were expected to follow within a day.
The House passed the bill 253-168 largely along party lines, dismissing warnings from Democrats that courts would strike down the plan for failing to meet judicial standards.
Republicans who control both chambers want to send the bill to Bush by the weekend, when lawmakers head out to campaign for November elections that will determine control of Congress.
The bill sets up procedures to try foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Supreme Court struck down Bush's original plan, saying it violated U.S. and international standards.
As Senate debate on the bill got under way, Republicans defeated an attempt to pass an alternative that Democrats said would meet Supreme Court standards and help restore America's image, damaged by harsh treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
The Senate was expected to pass the bill on Thursday, after considering several other amendments.
Republicans, seeking to polish their terrorism-fighting credentials in the final days of their campaigns, depicted the new rules as tough but fair.
"By formally establishing terrorist tribunals, the bill provides a critical tool in fighting the war on terror and it provides a measure of justice to the victims of 9/11," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, said the bill provides "basic fairness in our prosecutions but we also preserve the ability of our war fighters to operate effectively on the battlefield."
But Human rights groups and many Democrats said the deal gave Bush too much latitude to allow harsh interrogations and to deprive detainees of legal rights.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat, said agreeing to "such an ambiguous compromise would allow the president to define torture when and how he sees fit."
Rep. Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat, said the bill sends a signal that "America's leaders are willing to abandon our values ... in favor of thuggish tactics they hope might make them safer for a little while."
Democrats also predicted the courts would find the bill unconstitutional because it deprived detainees held without charges of the right to file legal challenges to their imprisonment.
Under a compromise worked out last week, the CIA will be able to continue aggressive interrogations, but supporters of the bill said agency interrogators would comply with the Geneva Conventions' requirement for humane treatment.
The bill also expands the definition of "enemy combatants," who can be held indefinitely without charges, to include those who knowingly support terrorist groups with arms, money and other activities.
Backers of the bill said that provision would choke off supplies to terrorist groups, but critics said it was too broad and could subject many more people to indefinite detention.
Cool!
Thanks!
Don't try to figure them out.. I causes headaches...
If they are treated as POW's they meet all the rules to qualify for a firing squad.
Yeah it is a stick. There was a flurry of articles trying to justify Clinton's Sunday blow up on TV. He is demonstrating how absurd the "Anger is good" Clintonite puff pieces are.
Cubicle Bound:
To caller Lou: "Can you put on a chalkboard equating Democrats and religion? [referrring to Nancy P's Golden Rule]?"
To caller Lou: "The practical result is that we are going to treat these people [prisoners] a far lot better than they will ever treat us."
That was a different meeting....they have met at least once before for signing of some agreement.
I'd make a campaign commercial using those quotes...
I thought I was the only one that couldn't take her. Just shows how a true conservative can sniff out these socialists.
I got through 20 minutes until my organs started to harden and block up. Cook and ramble incoherent nonsense, that is the basics of her show. I still have "A Clockwork Orange" convulsions when I see her on my TV screen... ;)
You're right, and your tag line says it all:) Whether it's Grace or Pelosi..
It works, just do it slowly and don't move on to the next set of muscles before the set you are working on is relaxed. Hyptnotists and shrinks use this. I learned it while I was "on the farm" 25 years ago.
She just needs to get a clue.
Her HATE drives her...
Her GREED for power drives her..nothing else...
How the heck do we elect such corrupt greedy monsters who hate us so much, I will never know...
BRILLIANT!
SIncerely- THANKS!
I like Rachae's show when she travels and spends $40 a day.
LOL!!! I heard Rush say Nancy you ignorant fill in the blank... I just provided last word.....
True enough. They don't wear uniforms and are not signatories to the Geneva Convention anyway. The whole premise is ridiculous. SCOTUS made a dreadful decision in the Hamdan case. It was 5 to 4 counting Roberts who recused himself because he had already made a determination at the appellate level. One vote made all the difference.
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