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.
LOL!
I'm REAL!
;-)
hot blooded and hot headed REAL!
;-)
DEATH TO THE MOOK!
He's a perfect example of the liberals' childlike naivete. He just can't comprehend that they can hate us purely because their religion tells them to, or because they feel inferior, or because they're secretly envious of our freedom and prosperity. He thinks it just has to be our fault somehow.
Makes them easier to spot!
LOL!
I am always here to rub you :-)
*THUD*
October 7.
I am so sorry you are in pain....
truly...
- next Saturday....
so hope your knee gets better...
LOL!
WOW!
You're quick!
;-)
You got that right. It will be interesting to see how the screaming economy, low gas price and soaring DOW gets becomes irrelevant to the Dem campaign. So the WOT will be the clincher then? Considering the standard Dem cut and run position, maybe they are really are falling in to the dreaded Rovian trap...
I'M SICK OF THIS AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!!
okay, stress released for today.
thanks,you will do great.
thank you... get butterflies when I think about it...LOL!
I am anticipating your debut almost as much as you are.
ROFLL!!!
ROTFLMAO--obviously voted for kerry.
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