Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 8, 2006 1:22:29 GMT -5
THE PRISONER PROBLEM----Bush's Plan Allows Coerced
Evidence-----Convictions could also be based on material unseen by the
accused. The Senate may object.
President Bush asked Congress Wednesday to approve a new system of
military-style justice for terrorism suspects that would, for the 1st
time, permit convictions in American courts based on the use of coerced
evidence.
The Bush administration proposal also would permit war crimes convictions
based on evidence that was never made available to the accused.
Bush said reliance on such controversial information at trial would be
strictly limited, permitted only under a judge's ruling that it was
relevant and credible, and that the use of coerced statements would stop
short of allowing evidence obtained through torture.
"I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United
States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our
values," the president said, announcing that the new system would be used
to prosecute the most notorious detainees in U.S. custody.
The administration's proposed rules resemble those imposed under an
executive order that Bush issued shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks; it
set up military commissions for terrorist suspects captured overseas, some
of whom were sent to the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Supreme Court struck down that system in June, in part because it had
not been approved by Congress.
Now Bush is going back to Congress seeking approval for his military
commissions, with changes, 2 months before an election in which national
security has taken center stage.
It is not clear whether the president's plan will gain traction on Capitol
Hill, where lawmakers have been working for weeks on their own proposals
for military commissions to try terrorist suspects.
2 of the leading authors of a nearly complete Senate bill, Armed Services
Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.), said their bill differs from the administration plan in key
areas - including the use of classified and coerced evidence - but also
said that differences may not be insurmountable.
"The goal for me is to take the committee bill and the administration bill
and find middle ground so we can get commissions authorized in a way that
will withstand judicial scrutiny, get congressional buy-in, and be a form
we can be proud of as a nation to render justice to terrorists," Graham
said.
Details of the Senate-drafted bill are expected to be released in the next
2 days, Warner said.
Democrats adopted a wait-and-see posture Wednesday, indicating they were
more likely to support the Warner-Graham bill than the administration's
plan. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee's top Democrat, said he
had "serious concerns" about the Bush bill.
Many Democrats described the policy outlined by Bush as a retreat for the
administration. "This is a major reversal from past Bush administration
policy, which held that no new law was needed. It is essentially a mea
culpa, cloaked in rhetoric," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
In the House, where Republican members largely have supported the
administration's approach to detainees, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon),
chairman of the Armed Services Committee, planned to convene a hearing on
the administration's proposal today. The administration's proposed system
would incorporate many procedures used for U.S. military personnel in
court-martial proceedings - but with several major distinctions. It would
allow hearsay evidence and confessions obtained through coercive
interrogations, assuming a judge found the information to be probative and
credible.
The rules would entitle the accused to public trials, access to lawyers
and the right to be present during trial, raising the prospect of
high-profile proceedings involving what the government has labeled some of
the most ruthless terrorists in the world.
The White House called on Congress to enact the legislation as a 1st step
toward bringing to justice the likes of alleged Sept. 11 planner Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed and 13 other terror suspects who had been held by the CIA
in undisclosed prisons overseas.
Bush said in a surprise announcement Wednesday that the detainees had
exhausted their value to intelligence authorities and had been transferred
to Guantanamo Bay. But administration officials acknowledged that the
timing of any trials would depend on what rules lawmakers embrace.
Senators have been working on legislation related to detainees since the
Supreme Court ruled that the administration's proposal for military
commissions was illegal.
Based on senators' descriptions, the working draft of their bill differs
from the Bush proposal in a few key ways. It does not permit convictions
based on evidence that the accused could not see, for instance.
Graham said that any system used on foreign detainees must be the same as
U.S. officials would want to see for American personnel captured overseas.
"Whatever we do . could come back to haunt us," Graham said.
The administration's proposed system would create more than 2 dozen
offenses, from murder and pillaging to lesser crimes such as conspiracy. A
military officer would preside over the commission, which would include at
least 5 members. The rules would require a 2/3 majority to convict.
Defendants could face the death penalty.
The plan was criticized Wednesday by civilian defense lawyers and other
legal experts.
"Today's plan is a radical scheme, designed to resurrect a system of
martial law that literally America has never seen," said Neal K. Katyal, a
professor at Georgetown Law Center in Washington, who argued the Hamdan
vs. Rumsfeld case before the Supreme Court that resulted in the ruling
against the military tribunals.
"Do Americans want their sons or daughters tried under these kinds of
circumstances?" Katyal said.
The Supreme Court said the system invalidated in its June ruling fell
short of meeting U.S. law and international standards. The court also held
that U.S. personnel could be prosecuted if they subjected prisoners to
inhumane or degrading treatment in violation of the Geneva Convention.
Bush's legislation seeks to limit the exposure of U.S. personnel to such
prosecutions by foreign courts.
(source: Los Angeles Times)
Evidence-----Convictions could also be based on material unseen by the
accused. The Senate may object.
President Bush asked Congress Wednesday to approve a new system of
military-style justice for terrorism suspects that would, for the 1st
time, permit convictions in American courts based on the use of coerced
evidence.
The Bush administration proposal also would permit war crimes convictions
based on evidence that was never made available to the accused.
Bush said reliance on such controversial information at trial would be
strictly limited, permitted only under a judge's ruling that it was
relevant and credible, and that the use of coerced statements would stop
short of allowing evidence obtained through torture.
"I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United
States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our
values," the president said, announcing that the new system would be used
to prosecute the most notorious detainees in U.S. custody.
The administration's proposed rules resemble those imposed under an
executive order that Bush issued shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks; it
set up military commissions for terrorist suspects captured overseas, some
of whom were sent to the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Supreme Court struck down that system in June, in part because it had
not been approved by Congress.
Now Bush is going back to Congress seeking approval for his military
commissions, with changes, 2 months before an election in which national
security has taken center stage.
It is not clear whether the president's plan will gain traction on Capitol
Hill, where lawmakers have been working for weeks on their own proposals
for military commissions to try terrorist suspects.
2 of the leading authors of a nearly complete Senate bill, Armed Services
Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.), said their bill differs from the administration plan in key
areas - including the use of classified and coerced evidence - but also
said that differences may not be insurmountable.
"The goal for me is to take the committee bill and the administration bill
and find middle ground so we can get commissions authorized in a way that
will withstand judicial scrutiny, get congressional buy-in, and be a form
we can be proud of as a nation to render justice to terrorists," Graham
said.
Details of the Senate-drafted bill are expected to be released in the next
2 days, Warner said.
Democrats adopted a wait-and-see posture Wednesday, indicating they were
more likely to support the Warner-Graham bill than the administration's
plan. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee's top Democrat, said he
had "serious concerns" about the Bush bill.
Many Democrats described the policy outlined by Bush as a retreat for the
administration. "This is a major reversal from past Bush administration
policy, which held that no new law was needed. It is essentially a mea
culpa, cloaked in rhetoric," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
In the House, where Republican members largely have supported the
administration's approach to detainees, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon),
chairman of the Armed Services Committee, planned to convene a hearing on
the administration's proposal today. The administration's proposed system
would incorporate many procedures used for U.S. military personnel in
court-martial proceedings - but with several major distinctions. It would
allow hearsay evidence and confessions obtained through coercive
interrogations, assuming a judge found the information to be probative and
credible.
The rules would entitle the accused to public trials, access to lawyers
and the right to be present during trial, raising the prospect of
high-profile proceedings involving what the government has labeled some of
the most ruthless terrorists in the world.
The White House called on Congress to enact the legislation as a 1st step
toward bringing to justice the likes of alleged Sept. 11 planner Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed and 13 other terror suspects who had been held by the CIA
in undisclosed prisons overseas.
Bush said in a surprise announcement Wednesday that the detainees had
exhausted their value to intelligence authorities and had been transferred
to Guantanamo Bay. But administration officials acknowledged that the
timing of any trials would depend on what rules lawmakers embrace.
Senators have been working on legislation related to detainees since the
Supreme Court ruled that the administration's proposal for military
commissions was illegal.
Based on senators' descriptions, the working draft of their bill differs
from the Bush proposal in a few key ways. It does not permit convictions
based on evidence that the accused could not see, for instance.
Graham said that any system used on foreign detainees must be the same as
U.S. officials would want to see for American personnel captured overseas.
"Whatever we do . could come back to haunt us," Graham said.
The administration's proposed system would create more than 2 dozen
offenses, from murder and pillaging to lesser crimes such as conspiracy. A
military officer would preside over the commission, which would include at
least 5 members. The rules would require a 2/3 majority to convict.
Defendants could face the death penalty.
The plan was criticized Wednesday by civilian defense lawyers and other
legal experts.
"Today's plan is a radical scheme, designed to resurrect a system of
martial law that literally America has never seen," said Neal K. Katyal, a
professor at Georgetown Law Center in Washington, who argued the Hamdan
vs. Rumsfeld case before the Supreme Court that resulted in the ruling
against the military tribunals.
"Do Americans want their sons or daughters tried under these kinds of
circumstances?" Katyal said.
The Supreme Court said the system invalidated in its June ruling fell
short of meeting U.S. law and international standards. The court also held
that U.S. personnel could be prosecuted if they subjected prisoners to
inhumane or degrading treatment in violation of the Geneva Convention.
Bush's legislation seeks to limit the exposure of U.S. personnel to such
prosecutions by foreign courts.
(source: Los Angeles Times)