Senator Russ Feingold Opposition To Torture Bill

Senator Russ Feingold made a statement against the Bush Torture Bill today. The Senator has been proven right on all counts in the war on terror starting with his opposition to invade Iraq. He is someone that speaks with clarity and concisely. Someone we can only wish the rest of Congress would listen to. Listen to Senator Feingold's statement. Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold In Opposition of the Military Commissions Act As prepared for delivery from the Senate floor September 28, 2006 Mr. President, I oppose the Military Commissions Act. Let me be clear: I welcome efforts to bring terrorists to justice. It is about time. This Administration has too long been distracted by the war in Iraq from the fight against al Qaeda. We need a renewed focus on the terrorist networks that present the greatest threat to this country. But Mr. President, we wouldn’t be where we are today, five years after September 11 with not a single Guantanamo Bay detainee having been brought to trial, if the President had come to Congress in the first place, rather than unilaterally creating military commissions that didn’t comply with the law. The President wanted to act on his own, and he dared the Supreme Court to stop him. And he lost. The Hamdan decision was an historic rebuke to an Administration that has acted for years as if it were above the law. ............................. One of the most disturbing provisions of this bill eliminates the right of habeas corpus for those detained as enemy combatants. I support an amendment by Senator Specter to strike that provision from the bill. I ask unanimous consent that my separate statement on that amendment be put in the record at the appropriate point. Habeas corpus is a fundamental recognition that in America, the government does not have the power to detain people indefinitely and arbitrarily. And that in America, the courts must have the power to review the legality of executive detention decisions. Habeas corpus is a longstanding vital part of our American tradition, and is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. As a group of retired judges wrote to Congress, habeas corpus “safeguards the most hallowed judicial role in our constitutional democracy – ensuring that no man is imprisoned unlawfully.” Mr. President, this bill would fundamentally alter that historical equation. Faced with an executive branch that has detained hundreds of people without trial for years now, it would eliminate the right of habeas corpus. Under this legislation, some individuals, at the designation of the executive branch alone, could be picked up, even in the United States, and held indefinitely without trial and without any access whatsoever to the courts. They would not be able to call upon the laws of our great nation to challenge their detention because they would have been put outside the reach of the law. Mr. President, that is unacceptable, and it almost surely violates our Constitution. But that determination will take years of protracted litigation. Read Complete Statement Here: http://feingold.senate.gov