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Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions Bill

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 03:15:50 PM EST
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There are two horrible provisions in the military commissions bill. One would grant amnesty to Bush administration officials who authorized the use of torture techniques. The other would eliminate habeas for detainees.

While we've all focused a lot on the habeas provision, Sen. Dick Durbin points out in this long statement he delivered today in the Senate that the torture amnesty provision is not receiving nearly enough attention.

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    Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions Bill | 8 comments (8 topical)
    Re: Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 03:52:09 PM EST
    So can he please filibuster it???

    Re: Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions (none / 0) (#3)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 04:03:46 PM EST
    et al - Well, we know what Dick "They're Nazis" Durbin thinks. Maybe it should go to the Senate floor with him the sponsor.

    Re: Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions (none / 0) (#4)
    by Sailor on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 04:23:44 PM EST
    Ahh, ppj once again weighs in with his vote for torture and against the Constitution. And for the record, Durbin never said "They're Nazis" , even tho ppj puts in in full quotes, he just said the tactics used, torture, secret prisons, no trials, no charges, were the same the nazi's used. Which is a fact.

    Re: Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 04:51:46 PM EST
    Sailor, you must be against democracy. Note that I said bring it to the floor for a vote... And yes, he called them Nazis: "If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings."

    Re: Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions (none / 0) (#2)
    by Edger on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 04:51:53 PM EST
    One [provision of the bill] would grant amnesty to Bush administration officials who authorized the use of torture techniques. This, on its face, to any reasonable person, is a tacit admission of guilt. What is it they feel they need amnesty from? And why would they need it unless... they need it? Carl Tobias, Williams Professor of Law at the University of Richmond, in an op-ed today in Jurist Legal News and Research, says of the Bush Military Commissions Bill that:
    One critical specific involves treatment of the Geneva Conventions and Common Article 3. The Committee bill would leave intact these treaty obligations as they have existed for fifty-seven years. In contrast, the administration bill requires greater particularity in terms of the Conventions' general language and could provoke other countries' "reinterpretation" of their treaty obligations to the detriment of Americans whom they detain and try. ... ...the legislation seemingly will not reinterpret the Geneva Conventions but leaves to presidential discretion the definition of practices which U.S. interrogators might employ. ... ...Thursday's deal leaves so many questions unclear and Congress has so little time to elucidate critical, unresolved issues that lawmakers should adjourn without passing legislation.
    Any legislator honest and serious about fighting terrorists should think hard about this and do it by digging them out at the root: the bush White House. They can start with voting against this bill.

    Re: Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions (none / 0) (#8)
    by Sailor on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 05:30:54 PM EST
    "If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings."
    Sorry, but any true American would have a problem discerning those acts from the ones committed by the above named regimes.

    Re: Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions (none / 0) (#6)
    by Jen M on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 08:50:18 PM EST
    By all means lets re-interperet the geneva convention. Then comes the part where we recategorize certain crimes as terrorism. Then we can redefine who is an enemy combatant. Can you say Desaparecido? Keep going down this road. But then no one will say it. Not aloud.

    Re: Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions (none / 0) (#7)
    by Edger on Wed Sep 27, 2006 at 08:50:18 PM EST
    you must be against democracy. Note that I said bring it to the floor for a vote... Yeah, Sailor. After all, Saddam Hussein used to run a democracy that way, with those kinds of votes too. The Nazis did as well. Saddam was a little better at it though - he usually got 99%. And the Nazis? They were mere amateurs compared to bushco - but then again, they didn't have the Nazis to learn from. What could you have been thinking???

    Durbin on Torture and the Military Commissions Bill | 8 comments (8 topical)