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.
Well- If she DOES go out with you...
I WILL BE OUTRAGED!
;-)
Rush, Helen Thomas would love to date you, if it pleases the Muslims.
Morning everyone--just got here, and I'm still trying to bring up Rush. Thanks for the ping, Johnnie!
Now I'm a bachelor, but I've always felt there was nothing wrong with a healthy dose of fear in a child.
newsmax--Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006 11:41 a.m. EDT
Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday major policy changes are needed because the Iraq war has divided the nation "almost as much as Vietnam."
"So there's no doubt that our country is in much more danger now from terrorism than it would have been if we would have done what we should have done and stayed in Afghanistan," he said on the campaign trail with his son, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jack Carter.
The former president said the Bush administration made a "terrible mistake" by invading Iraq and diverting troops from Afghanistan.
"I think he's one of the worst secretaries of defense we've ever had," the former president said of Rumsfeld. "Almost every decision he has made has aggravated his military subordinates and has also proved to be a mistake."
ROFL!
I've been hopeing that Rush would say something about these so called former Officers who have been bad mouthing Rumsfeld.
Yeah, but she'd have to have a full burkha and duct tape over her mouth...
Well, I'll say this, Carter knows of what he speaks. Being the worst, that is. It takes one to know one.
How are you?
OldCorps has it posted
Jimmy Carter: 'Rumsfeld One of the Worst'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1709994/posts
I bet BJ's mother never swatted him.
YEAH! Big wet sloppy kiss! Really glad to see you now that you are famous and stuff.
So is the Radio show going to be live or recorded?
I added these to their lists:
• 1995 - Oklahoma City Bombing, April 19, 1995
• 1996 - TWA Flight 800 shot down south of Long Island, July 17th, 1996
I'm crushed...disappointed...disillusioned...got any pain pills I can take?
Keep eating Paula Deen's cooking Jimmy this way your arteries will clog nice and fast!
Worse yet, he probably never got the beat down he most likely richly deserved as a teenager!
I have a horrible head-ache and a LOT of work to do- but hurt too much to do it...
sigh....
so hanging out...taking aleve and eyeing the bottle of Margaritas....
:-0
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