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WASHINGTON, May 17, 2007 – The nation’s leaders gathered today to recognize a group of young people taking the first step toward leading America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates commissioned 55 ROTC cadets and midshipmen today at the White House in a ceremony attended by President Bush and other political and military leaders. The new officers represent all 50 states, four territories and the District of Columbia. This is the first time a joint ROTC commissioning ceremony has been held, and the first time a defense secretary has administered the oath of commissioning. Previously,...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, March 31, 2007 – The military commissions case of Australian detainee David Hicks, which concluded last night with a sentence of nine months imprisonment, was a fair proceeding that established a good basis for future commissions cases, the chief prosecutor for the Defense Department said here yesterday. Hicks, 31, was sentenced according to a plea agreement after pleading guilty to one charge of providing material support for terrorism. The commission recommended a seven-year sentence, which was the maximum allowed under the agreement, but another part of the agreement guaranteed a suspension for any portion...

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2007 – The Defense Department’s Office of Military Commissions referred a charge today against David Matthew Hicks, an Australian captured in Afghanistan in December 2001. Judge Susan J. Crawford, the convening authority, referred one charge with two specifications of providing military support for terrorism. DoD officials said this is not a capital case. The referral is the first under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Hicks became known as “the Australian Taliban” following his capture. He is being held at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Under new procedures, Hicks must be arraigned...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2007 – The Defense Department today presented to Congress its manual outlining rules for military commissions as they will be conducted under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The manual includes some major departures from past military commissions proceedings, such as affording detainees the right to self representation and directing that no classified information be presented in court without the detainees’ presence. “The overriding considerations reflected in the Manual for Military Commissions are fairness and fidelity to the Military Commissions Act of 2006,” Daniel J. Dell'Orto, principal deputy general counsel for DoD, said at a Pentagon...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2006 -- Military commissions are a proper way to try certain people suspected of committing terrorist acts against America, in part because U.S. law prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks didn’t even address such a situation, a U.S. State Department legal advisor told reporters here today. “We cannot try the vast majority of individuals (being held) at Guantanamo (Bay, Cuba,) under our criminal laws, because as of Sept. 11, 2001, they had not broken laws that we had on our books that had extraterritorial application,” John B. Bellinger III said at a Foreign Press...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretarySeptember 16, 2006 President's Radio Address       Audio      In Focus: National Security      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Monday, I visited New York, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon to attend memorials marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It was an emotional day for me and for our country. On that day, we remembered those who lost their lives, and we paid tribute to those who gave their lives so that others might live. We rededicated ourselves to protecting the American people from another attack.  Radio Address 200620052004200320022001  Radio Interviews 20052004 Next week, I...

Last week was a deadline week in the California Legislature. That means the Senate and Assembly worked to get bills out of their respective houses to “make new laws” for this year. As a believer in small government, that means I had absolutely no bills up for a vote this week. But—the socialists in the Legislature did. In fact, the Assembly approved bills that would initiate 32 new studies, 13 new commissions, 4 new task forces, and a variety of new regulatory powers in government. We wanted to study everything from Asian food to flood plains, and we set up...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 27, 2006 – In his first military commission hearing here, an accused Saudi terrorist rejected his detailed military defense counsel today, saying he didn't want a defense at all and was happy to admit to his charges. "I did not come here to defend myself," said Ghassan Abdullah Al Sharbi, who is accused of providing English translation for a terrorist training camp and receiving training on how to build and use hand-held remote detonation devices for explosives. "I came here to tell you that I did what I did and I'm willing to pay...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 24, 2006 – U.S. military commission proceedings will resume this week in the cases of three enemy combatants held here since 2002. Proceedings will resume in the case of Sufyian Barhoumi, an Algerian man accused of being an explosives trainer for al Qaeda. Proceedings will begin for Jabran Said Bin Al Qahtani, a Saudi man accused of constructing circuit boards to be used as timing devices in bombs, and Ghassan Abdullah Al Sharbi, a Saudi man accused of providing English translation for a terrorist training camp and receiving training on how to build and...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 3, 2006 – U.S. military commissions proceedings resume this week in the cases of four enemy combatants held here since 2002. Proceedings will resume in the cases of Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, a Yemeni man accused of crafting terrorist propaganda, and Canadian teen Omar Ahmed Khadr, who officials say killed a U.S. servicemember while fighting for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Proceedings will begin against Abdul Zahir, an Afghan man accused of working as a translator and accountant for al Qaeda in Afghanistan and planning explosives attacks against U.S. forces, and Binyam Ahmed...

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2006 – The Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in a case that could make or break the government's military commissions process for terror war detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. At issue in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is the legality of the military commissions set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The court also is deciding a question on its own jurisdiction in the case. The government, represented here by Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, filed a brief with the court that argued the case on six separate legal issues. Government attorneys...

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2006 – The Defense Department is considering issuing new instructions to military commissions that specifically prohibit the admission of evidence that's been obtained by torture, a senior DoD official told reporters here today. "This has been one area where there has been some concern raised, and so the department is taking a look at it and may issue a separate instruction on it," DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters. President Bush has been clear that the United States does not condone torture, Whitman said. "The Department of Defense, of course, abides by that admonition," Whitman said,...

Rob Reiner better watch his back. It now appears that an outside audit – at the least – will be done of the California Children and Families Commission because it used $23 million in taxpayer funds for TV ads touting “preschool for all” at the same time Reiner, a commission board member, was circulating petitions for his “preschool for all” initiative. And when investigators come to chat, the executive director of the commission just might not go along with the cover story that it was all one big “coincidence” that the TV ads ran at the same time as the...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (Army News Service, Feb. 28, 2006) – With commissions slated to resume March 1 for four detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and about 16 international media outlets expected to report on the proceedings along with several other organizations that will observe the hearings, officials said security will be nothing short of tight. The Joint Task Force-Guantanamo leadership and security teams kept the commissions running smoothly in January. “One of the toughest challenges we had was that the security element had no idea of what ‘right’ looked like,” said Army Capt. David Murphy, officer in charge of...

The U.S. Navy will commission the USS San Antonio, lead ship of the latest class of amphibious ships, at 11 a.m. CDT, Jan. 14, 2006, at Naval Station Ingleside, Texas. Former President George H. W. Bush will deliver the ceremony’s principal address. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will serve as the ship’s sponsor and will give the first order to "Man our ship and bring her to life!" Capt. Jonathan M. Padfield of Salt Lake City, Utah, is the ship’s first commanding officer and will lead a crew of 360 officers and enlisted personnel. The ship is capable of embarking a...

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 10, 2006 – Military commissions to try enemy combatants held here for alleged war crimes are intended "to prosecute unlawful conduct, not persecute religious beliefs," a top official with the commissions said here today. Air Force Col. Morris Davis, chief prosecutor for the Defense Department's Office of Military Commissions, said he and his team intend to prosecute all military commissions cases in a fair and open manner. Hearings in two such cases are scheduled to get under way here tomorrow. "A lot of folks have questioned whether these proceedings should go forward," Morris said....

U.S. NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 9, 2006 – Military commissions proceedings resume this week as officials here hold preliminary hearings in the cases of two enemy combatants held here since 2002. Proceedings will resume in the case of Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, a Yemeni man accused of crafting terrorist propaganda, and begin for Canadian teen Omar Ahmed Khadr, who officials say killed a U.S. serviceman while fighting for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Military commissions proceedings began against Bahlul in August 2004 but were halted by a federal district judge's ruling in November 2004. An appeals court...

Commission Commission, that is all that I have been hearing every since Hurricane Katrina died over the Ohio Valley at the end of last week. I have had it up to my eyebrows with Commissions that are mostly a gotcha and Cover Your Ass game. What I want to know is what good is a Commission anyway. They have never done anyone any good, just gave some old forgotten and washed up politicans another moment in the limelight. Case in point the farce of the 911 Commission. Everytime something happens that spook the politicans, they call for a commission to...

In the pre-Internet era, homebuyers relied on real estate agents to chauffeur them around to properties, help search for mortgages and provide other services, for which buyers typically paid 6 percent commissions when they closed escrow on their American Dream. For a $139,000 median-priced home sold in 1988 in San Diego County, that commission would have been $8,340, an amount shared equally between buying and selling agents and their brokers. But today, despite the emergence of sophisticated online searches for homes and loans, the commission system remains virtually the same. The $493,000 median priced home in June would have carried...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust regulators are preparing to sue the National Association of Realtors (NAR) over policies they believe will illegally restrict commission discounting and harm online competitors, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The effort by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission aims to protect buyers and sellers of homes and could help contain high real-estate costs in a booming housing market, the newspaper said.