Previously...
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2288699/posts
Obama’s Assistant Attorney General Tells Senate: Terrorists Captured on Battlefield...
CNSNEWS.com ^ | Wednesday, July 08, 2009 | By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
Posted on July 9, 2009 1:59:46 AM PDT by Cindy
“Obama’s Assistant Attorney General Tells Senate: Terrorists Captured on Battlefield Have Constitutional Rights”
SNIPPET: ““Does that infer that these individuals have constitutional rights?” McCain asked Kris.
“Ah, yes,” Kris answered.
“What are those constitutional rights of people who are not citizens of the United States of America, who were captured on a battlefield committing acts of war against the United States?” McCain asked.
“Our analysis, Senator, is that the due process clause applies to military commissions and imposes a constitutional floor on the procedures that the government sets on such commissions …” Kris said.
“So you are saying that these people who are at Guantanamo, who were part of 9/11, who committed acts of war against the United States, have constitutional rights under the Constitution of the United States of America?” McCain asked.
“Within the framework I just described, the answer is yes, the due process clause guarantees and imposes some requirements on the conduct of (military) commissions,” Kris said.
“The fact is they are entitled to protections under the Geneva Convention, which apply to the rules of war,” McCain said. “I do not know of a time in American history where enemy combatants were given rights under the United States Constitution.””
SNIPPET: “Kris and Jeh C. Johnson, general counsel for the Department of Defense, said that military commissions were a viable “alternative” but that prosecuting terror suspects as criminals in U.S. federal courts was preferable – a position Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) took issue with at the hearing.
“Why would anyone prefer to try people apprehended for violations of the law of war?” Lieberman asked. “The fact is that from the beginning of our country, from the Revolutionary War, we’ve used military tribunals to try war criminals, or people we have apprehended, captured for violations of the law of war.
“Again, I think the unique circumstances of this war on terrorists, against the people who attacked us on 9/11, have taken us down, including the Supreme Court, some roads that are not only to me ultimately unjust but inconsistent with the long history of military commissions,” Lieberman said.
“Why would you say the administration prefers to bring before our federal court system instead of military commissions that are really today’s version of the tribunals that we’ve used throughout our history to deal in a just way with prisoners of war?” Lieberman asked.”
Read the whole article at the link provided.
1 posted on July 9, 2009 1:59:46 AM PDT by Cindy
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Previously...
Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2287858/posts
Top Defense Lawyer Calls for Military Commissions Reform
DEFENSElink.mil - AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE ^ | July 7, 2009 | By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden
Posted on July 7, 2009 11:59:53 PM PDT by Cindy
Note: The following text is a quote:
News American Forces Press Service
Top Defense Lawyer Calls for Military Commissions Reform
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 7, 2009 – Closing the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and reforming military commissions will enhance national security, the Defense Department’s chief legal advisor said today before Congress.
Echoing President Barack Obama’s recent call to reform the Military Commissions Act of 2006, General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he welcomes the opportunity to help change military commissions into a more viable forum.
“By working to improve military commissions to make the process more fair and credible, we enhance our national security by providing the government with effective alternatives for bringing to justice those international terrorists who violate the laws of war,” Johnson said.
Under the Senate’s recent Defense Authorization Act, several provisions were made to reform the 2006 legislation. Johnson expressed confidence in the ability of the Obama administration and Congress to continue working together to improve the law.
“Military commissions can emerge from this effort as a fully legitimate forum,” he said.
The new legislation proposes changes that ban in-court use of statements obtained by cruel interrogation methods, which Johnson said will “go a long way toward enhancing the legitimacy and credibility of commissions.”
Johnson also addressed the need for a program to monitor detainees even after they are transferred from Guantanamo Bay to accepting nations. He stressed the concern that terrorists and enemy combatants might return to the battlefield.
“It’s not as simple as, ‘Oh X-Y-Z country is willing to take the detainee back,” he said. “There needs to be in place an adequate rehabilitation program to monitor in that accepting nation … [so] that we minimize to the fullest extent possible any acts of recidivism for those who are transferred or released.”
“The safety of the American people is the utmost concern,” he continued. “So we believe strongly that rehabilitation programs are something that we should encourage, promote. It’s something we’re very focused on.”
Navy Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald, the Navy’s Judge Advocate General, also spoke before the committee and expressed support for military commissions reform and the Defense Authorization Act. The new legislation addresses concerns he had with the enactment of the 2006 law, he said.
“I believe that the [Defense Authorization Act] establishes a balanced framework to provide important rights and protections to an accused while also providing the government with the means of prosecuting alleged alien, unprivileged enemy belligerents,” MacDonald said.
Witnesses, including Johnson and MacDonald, however, asked for certain clarity regarding the new bill.
MacDonald recommended the committee develop a list of considerations to be evaluated in determining the extent in which a statement may be corroborated as well as the overall reliability of the statement.
But overall, MacDonald stressed the importance of having “full faith and confidence that what we’re creating in the military, in this bill, is a fair and just process.”
“It’s absolutely vital that when we leave here at the end of the day, it’s not because we believe that what we’ve created is a second-class legal system,” he said. “You ought to feel very comfortable sending anybody to this commissions process with these changes, because we believe it’s a fair and just system.”
Biographies: General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson