Congressional Republicans moved closer on Wednesday to allowing the Bush administration to try suspected terrorists in closed military commissions.
Democrats bashed the House and Senate bills as un-American and a black mark on the United States’ international moral authority, but could do nothing to stop them.
The bills were drafted in reaction to the Supreme Court, which earlier this year ruled that suspected terrorists had habeas corpus rights. Each bill allows suspected terrorists to be tried by military authorities without giving them access to prosecutors’ evidence and witnesses. They also narrow the suspect’s rights to appeal tribunal decisions.
House Republicans passed their version of the bill Wednesday afternoon; the Senate was certain to pass their version Wednesday night after agreeing to limit debate.
The House Republicans fought off amendments Wednesday afternoon that would have weakened the bill, and the Senate agreed to limit debate on its version of the bill.
The measures also have provisions that would punish any U.S. official who commits “grave breaches” of the Geneva Conventions, the international agreement that governs the treatment of prisoners of war.
But Democrats said that section was meaningless because it left it up to the administration to decide the “grave” threshold.
Democrats accused the GOP of election-year pandering that undercut the battle against terrorism.
“Defending America requires us to marshal the full range of our power — diplomatic and military, economic and moral,” said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md. “And when our moral standing is eroded, our international credibility is diminished as well.”
Republicans said the bill will make America safer by allowing the military to interrogate suspected terrorists aggressively and get information before planned attacks. They also accused the Democrats of offering nothing affirmative to fight terrorism.
“Democrats are paralyzed by their inability to formulate any national security policy,” House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday.
Terrorism trial legislation at a glance
Highlights of legislation on the treatment and prosecution of terrorist suspects that Congress debated on Wednesday
Evidence rules
» The agreement requires that a defendant be allowed to examine and respond to any evidence given to a jury. If classified information is needed for prosecution, an unclassified summary can be provided.
» When the government wants to protect classified information and an unclassified substitute is not available, the government could opt to drop the charges.
» Defendants could be convicted on hearsay evidence so long as a judge finds it to be reliable.
» Coerced testimony would be allowed in narrow circumstances, generally if the statement was acquired before a 2005 ban on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and a judge finds it to be reliable. Bans coerced statements taken after the 2005 ban took effect if it violates constitutional definitions of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
Habeas Corpus
» Bars defendants from protesting their detention or treatment in civilian courts.
War crimes
» The bill outlines specific war crimes. These include torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, murder, mutilation or maiming, rape and biological experiments. The law provides extensive definitions of each crime.
» The bill does not include a provision President Bush wanted interpretingU.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions, the 1949 treaty that sets international standards on prisoner treatment.
Court system
» Establishes a legal system to prosecute “unlawful enemy combatants.”
» The court would not be used to prosecute U.S. citizens or individuals who fight in foreign forces on behalf of a sovereign state.
» The individual must be selected by the government to be prosecuted under the court system, known as a “military commission.” The commission can determine the punishment, including death. – AP
