President Bush just gave Durbin the finger.
Posted on 09/06/2006 10:45:50 AM PDT by DogBarkTree
Sept. 6, 2006 — ABC News has learned that President Bush will announce that high-value detainees now being held at secret CIA prisons will be transferred to the Department of Defense and granted protections under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. It will be the first time the Administration publicly acknowledges the existence of the prisons.
A source familiar with the president's announcement says it will apply to all prisoners now being held by the CIA, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept.11 attacks, and senior al Qaeda leader Ramzi Binalshibh.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I don't have a problem with this at all. Anything that gets us thinking about this AS a war, and not a police action, is good. Why should we be afraid of our legal process working? We can't prosecute someone as a POW for war crimes?
They can be held forever, as the war will never be over.
Thats the only upside I can see.
If they're legally POWs, they don't have to have a trial, nor representation, nor visitation - thus avoiding the Gitmo Controversy.
Practically speaking, what does this mean? Does Khalid Sheik Mohammed have access to a lwayer, etc? Where will they be kept?
In fact, there are probably a lot of folks who'd like to do a Jack Ruby as they are "transferred" ~ now, if "W" will just give everyone the time and place eh!
Does this mean they get cigarettes from the Red Crescent?
It probably doesn't matter anymore. Or we get some advantage from it, such as continued incarceration until the war is over.
I don't believe anything ABC says. They would spin or misinterpret anything to fit their agenda and write a headline which was unrelated to the story if needed.
This is bad, really bad.
POWs don't get lawyers until and unless they are charged with war crimes.
Will the French like us now?
Simple.
1. They cannot have US legal representation (ie, STFU ACLU.)
2. They can be legally detained as long as the war is in progress (ie, STFU ACLU & Dems.)
3. They are legally recognized as members of an enemy military (ie, STFU DNC.)
4. Information obtained from the can be legally used for military purposes without legal challenge to collecting that information. (ie, STFU ACLU, DNC, Dean, DU, etc, etc..)
5. It takes this talking point away from the Dems (ie, STFU DNC.)
We'll all have to wait unti tonight to find out what Queen Bee Qati Khouric has to say about it ... /sarc>
If so, I hope that the packages are thoroughly scrutinized. During WWII such packages often contained articles of immense interest to the captors. IIRC The Red Cross wasn't involved but packages from some other sources emulated Cracker Jacks to the POW's immense satisfaction.
It IS spin. The president's speech sounded good.
That was photoshopped.
Thank you for that brief there. Exactly what I was looking for.
Thanks. Then this could be a good thing.
Nope, that was real.. It was a big deal back in the 04 election.. the dems thought it would upset the Right.. we just loved it...
In Karl Rove's basement, of course!
Not possible - the Haliburton Hurricane Generator(tm) and the Diebold Remote Voter Override Console(tm) have pretty much taken up the whole basement. Karl even had to move his ping-pong table out into the garage.
yes, he will go to Gitmo.
the bottom line is this - this was inveitable, and Bush has laid this at the hands of Congress and the people. he is serving up the worst SOBs we have, the 9/11 plotters, and telling congress and the people "go ahead, tell us what rights to trial you want to give these people".
I don't blame him - Bush is fed up with this crap, and so are many of us. if a majority of Americans are too stupid to understand what is at stake and protect themselves, then to hell with them.
federal courts have already extended habeas to people at Gitmo - they are flying lawyers in there now routinely. I suspect that these new arrivals will also get them.
there is some risk in doing this, but Bush is "all in" now on this and has laid it on Congress.
Great reply. Thanks. This is a good example why I love FR.
I personally don't know, but........
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
The President Strikes Back [Mario Loyola]
The President just pulled one of the best maneuvers of his entire presidency. By transferring most major Al Qaeda terrorists to Guantanamo, and simultaneously sending Congress a bill to rescue the Military Commissions from the Supreme Court's ruling Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the President spectacularly ambushed the Democrats on terrain they fondly thought their own. Now Democrats who oppose (and who have vociferously opposed) the Military Commissions will in effect be opposing the prosecution of the terrorists who planned and launched the attacks of September 11 for war crimes.
And if that were not enough, the President also frontally attacked the Hamdan ruling's potentially chilling effect on CIA extraordinary interrogation techniques, by arguing that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions is too vague, and asking Congress to define clearly the criminal law limiting the scope of permissible interrogation.
Taken as a whole, the President's maneuver today turned the political tables completely around. He stole the terms of debate from the Democrats, and rewrote them, all in a single speech. It will be delightful to watch in coming days and hours as bewildered Democrats try to understand what just hit them, and then sort through the rubble of their anti-Bush national security strategy to see what, if anything, remains.
Posted at 2:42 PM
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1696591/posts
There's *one in a row*, for America, s_f.
Setting the Record Straight
Some Reports Claim "High-Value Detainees Will Be Given Prisoner-Of-War Status."
But Neither The President's Proposed Legislation Nor The Detainees' Transfer To Guantanamo Gives The Detainees POW Status
The President's Legislation Specifically Authorizes The Creation Of Military Commissions To Try These Suspected Terrorists For War Crimes. The Bill ensures that these commissions are established in a way that protects our national security and ensures a full and fair trial for the accused.
Detainees Have Been Transferred To The Custody Of The Department Of Defense, At The U.S. Naval Base At Guantanamo Bay.
Neither The President's Proposed Legislation Nor The Detainees' Transfer To Guantanamo Gives The Detainees POW Status.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060906-7.html
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