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Bush Signs Torture Law

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B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
WASHINGTON -
President Bush on Tuesday signed legislation authorizing tough interrogation of terror suspects and smoothing the way for trials before military commissions, calling it a "vital tool" in a time of war.

Bush's plan for treatment of the terror suspects became law just six weeks after he acknowledged that the CIA had been secretly interrogating suspected terrorists overseas and pressed Congress to quickly give authority to try them in military commissions.

"With the bill I'm about to sign, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent people will face justice," Bush said.

Among those the United States hopes to try are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be 9/11 hijacker, and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between
Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells.

"It is a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill that he knows will save American lives," Bush said. "I have that privilege this morning."

Bush signed the bill in the White House East Room, at a table with a sign positioned on the front that said "Protecting America." He said he signed it in memory of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
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Via
 
G

GilloD

Banned
A version of me born in the year 2066 is sitting in a classroom in 2082 raising his hand and going, "Didn't anyone think this was total gorblat?".

It's rare occassion when Americans get the chance to see a massive **** up without the aid of hindsight.
 
M

monchi-kun

Member
there's a few lines in there as well that keeps bush and his administration from facing possible trials in the future for "war crimes"...so i've heard
 
B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
monchi-kun said:
there's a few lines in there as well that keeps bush and his administration from facing possible trials in the future for "war crimes"...so i've heard
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Immunity is retroactive to 1996(or 1997, I forget). Dunno why that particular date though.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
GilloD said:
It's rare occassion when Americans get the chance to see a massive **** up without the aid of hindsight.
Click to expand...

you should move outside the country, it's more like

"hey look america is screwing up again"
 
D

Doc Holliday

SPOILER: Columbus finds America
Soo funny. I remember in History class wondering "How the **** did the people let this shit happen" a few times... Now I know how, people just don't give a shit as if their lives aren't affected.

Where the hell is George Sr. in this? Grab your son by the ears and give him a spanking. I don't think he was a great president but he at least seemed smart and somewhat human.
 
C

chase

Member
The sneakiness and the blatant usage of 9/11 and the propaganda behind this makes me physically ill. What a nightmare. Dems need to show all this for what it is, even if they're called unAmerican or what have you in return. No faith in the voters in the first place, so the fact that they'd be taken in against anyone who's called that name doesn't matter. Someone should go down in history as being against it.

Are we really living in the name-calling, torturing age of American politics?
 
B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
Doc Holliday said:
Soo funny. I remember in History class wondering "How the **** did the people let this shit happen" a few times... Now I know how, people just don't give a shit if their lives aren't affected.
Click to expand...

Same with the illegal wiretapping. If I hear another "Well, what civil liberties have you lost?" I might blow up a building. Whoops...

Edit:
Transcript said:
THE PRESIDENT: Welcome to the White House on an historic day. It is a rare occasion when a President can sign a bill he knows will save American lives. I have that privilege this morning.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is one of the most important pieces of legislation in the war on terror. This bill will allow the Central Intelligence Agency to continue its program for questioning key terrorist leaders and operatives like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man believed to be the mastermind of the September the 11th, 2001 attacks on our country. This program has been one of the most successful intelligence efforts in American history. It has helped prevent attacks on our country. And the bill I sign today will ensure that we can continue using this vital tool to protect the American people for years to come. The Military Commissions Act will also allow us to prosecute captured terrorists for war crimes through a full and fair trial.

Last month, on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I stood with Americans who lost family members in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania. I listened to their stories of loved ones they still miss. I told them America would never forget their loss. Today I can tell them something else: With the bill I'm about to sign, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent people will face justice.

I want to thank the Vice President for joining me today. Mr. Vice President, appreciate you. Secretary Don Rumsfeld, I appreciate your service to our country. I want to thank Attorney General Al Gonzales; General Mike Hayden, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; General Pete Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

I appreciate very much Senator John Warner, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Congressman Duncan Hunter, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, for joining us today. I want to thank both of these men for their leadership. I appreciate Senator Lindsey Graham, from South Carolina, joining us; Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; Congressman Steve Buyer, of Indiana; Congressman Chris Cannon, of Utah. Thank you all for coming.

The bill I sign today helps secure this country, and it sends a clear message: This nation is patient and decent and fair, and we will never back down from the threats to our freedom.

One of the terrorists believed to have planned the 9/11 attacks said he hoped the attacks would be the beginning of the end of America. He didn't get his wish. We are as determined today as we were on the morning of September the 12th, 2001. We'll meet our obligation to protect our people, and no matter how long it takes, justice will be done.

When I proposed this legislation, I explained that I would have one test for the bill Congress produced: Will it allow the CIA program to continue? This bill meets that test. It allows for the clarity our intelligence professionals need to continue questioning terrorists and saving lives. This bill provides legal protections that ensure our military and intelligence personnel will not have to fear lawsuits filed by terrorists simply for doing their jobs.

This bill spells out specific, recognizable offenses that would be considered crimes in the handling of detainees so that our men and women who question captured terrorists can perform their duties to the fullest extent of the law. And this bill complies with both the spirit and the letter of our international obligations. As I've said before, the United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values.

By allowing the CIA program to go forward, this bill is preserving a tool that has saved American lives. The CIA program helped us gain vital intelligence from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh, two of the men believed to have helped plan and facilitate the 9/11 attacks. The CIA program helped break up a cell of 17 southeastern Asian terrorist operatives who were being groomed for attacks inside the United States. The CIA program helped us uncover key operatives in al Qaeda's biological weapons program, including a cell developing anthrax to be used in terrorist attacks.

The CIA program helped us identify terrorists who were sent to case targets inside the United States, including financial buildings in major cities on the East Coast. And the CIA program helped us stop the planned strike on U.S. Marines in Djibouti, a planned attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, and a plot to hijack airplanes and fly them into Heathrow Airport and Canary Wharf in London.

Altogether, information from terrorists in CIA custody has played a role in the capture or questioning of nearly every senior al Qaeda member or associate detained by the United States and its allies since this program began. Put simply, this program has been one of the most vital tools in our war against the terrorists. It's been invaluable both to America and our allies. Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland. By allowing our intelligence professionals to continue this vital program, this bill will save American lives. And I look forward to signing it into law.

The bill I'm about to sign also provides a way to deliver justice to the terrorists we have captured. In the months after 9/11, I authorized a system of military commissions to try foreign terrorists accused of war crimes. These commissions were similar to those used for trying enemy combatants in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War and World War II. Yet the legality of the system I established was challenged in the court, and the Supreme Court ruled that the military commissions needed to be explicitly authorized by the United States Congress.

And so I asked Congress for that authority, and they have provided it. With the Military Commission Act, the legislative and executive branches have agreed on a system that meets our national security needs. These military commissions will provide a fair trial, in which the accused are presumed innocent, have access to an attorney, and can hear all the evidence against them. These military commissions are lawful, they are fair, and they are necessary.

When I sign this bill into law, we will use these commissions to bring justice to the men believed to have planned the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. We'll also seek to prosecute those believed responsible for the attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors six years ago last week. We will seek to prosecute an operative believed to have been involved in the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 200 innocent people and wounded 5,000 more. With our actions, we will send a clear message to those who kill Americans: We will find you and we will bring you to justice.

Over the past few months the debate over this bill has been heated, and the questions raised can seem complex. Yet, with the distance of history, the questions will be narrowed and few: Did this generation of Americans take the threat seriously, and did we do what it takes to defeat that threat? Every member of Congress who voted for this bill has helped our nation rise to the task that history has given us. Some voted to support this bill even when the majority of their party voted the other way. I thank the legislators who brought this bill to my desk for their conviction, for their vision, and for their resolve.

There is nothing we can do to bring back the men and women lost on September 11th, 2001. Yet we'll always honor their memory and we will never forget the way they were taken from us. This nation will call evil by its name. We will answer brutal murder with patient justice. Those who kill the innocent will be held to account.

With this bill, America reaffirms our determination to win the war on terror. The passage of time will not dull our memory or sap our nerve. We will fight this war with confidence and with clear purpose. We will protect our country and our people. We will work with our friends and allies across the world to defend our way of life. We will leave behind a freer, safer and more peaceful world for those who follow us.

And now, in memory of the victims of September the 11th, it is my honor to sign the Military Commissions Act of 2006 into law. (Applause.)

(The bill is signed.)

END 9:47 A.M. EDT
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D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
ToxicAdam said:
This isn't a torture bill .. this is a Captors Rights bill. Why can't the captor have rights too?
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colbert_stephen-1ss.jpg
 
S

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
One of the terrorists believed to have planned the 9/11 attacks said he hoped the attacks would be the beginning of the end of America. He didn't get his wish.
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O RLY?
 
B

BSTF

this post rates 1/10
So what everyone's a terrorist sympathizer now? If this bill makes America safer every American should be for it.
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
BSTF said:
So what everyone's a terrorist sympathizer now? If this bill makes America safer every American should be for it.
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Oh do explain.
 
B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
BSTF said:
So what everyone's a terrorist sympathizer now? If this bill makes America safer every American should be for it.
Click to expand...

No. I am against it. I want America to be unsafe. I feel sorry for terrorists as well.
 
D

darscot

Member
BSTF said:
So what everyone's a terrorist sympathizer now? If this bill makes America safer every American should be for it.
Click to expand...

Can people use [sarcasm] around there post when there kidding cause its hard to tell if your just an idiot or you have a lame sense of humor.
 
A

APF

Member
Yeah.. I was going to reply here but someone put up that Star Wars picture, so what more needs to be said?
 
B

BSTF

this post rates 1/10
darscot said:
Can people use [sarcasm] around there post when there kidding cause its hard to tell if your just an idiot or you have a lame sense of humor.
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What? I'm an idiot because I disagree with you? Most of the people that the US has captive are bad people. A few aren't and they get released, whine to the media about it, get a bunch of publicity.

So what exactly did I say that makes me an idiot?

ItsInMyVeins said:
Hah. I see your tag is a bit too generous.
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Nah, it shouldn't even be on there. Once people played Tekken DR for more than a couple days they probably realized that the game wasn't meant for handhelds. I hardly see anyone play it these days.
 
D

Dragona Akehi

Retired
BSTF said:
What? I'm an idiot because I disagree with you? Most of the people that the US has captive are bad people. A few aren't and they get released, whine to the media about it, get a bunch of publicity.

So what exactly did I say that makes me an idiot?
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There. Are. No. Words.
 
B

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
BSTF said:
What? I'm an idiot because I disagree with you? Most of the people that the US has captive are bad people. A few aren't and they get released, whine to the media about it, get a bunch of publicity.

So what exactly did I say that makes me an idiot?
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:lol Are you some sort of gift from the GAF Gods?
 
M

maynerd

Banned
BSTF said:
Most of the people that the US has captive are bad people. A few aren't and they get released, whine to the media about it, get a bunch of publicity.
Click to expand...

That makes you an idiot.
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
BSTF said:
What? I'm an idiot because I disagree with you? Most of the people that the US has captive are bad people. A few aren't and they get released, whine to the media about it, get a bunch of publicity.

So what exactly did I say that makes me an idiot?



Nah, it shouldn't even be on there. Once people played Tekken DR for more than a couple days they probably realized that the game wasn't meant for handhelds. I hardly see anyone play it these days.
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Torture does not work. Any bit of common sense or research will show you that. And it sets a horrible precedent/example for the rest of the world. This is just an idiotic, idiotic, law.

And yeah, I second Dragon's post. You're really naive if you actually believe that.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
BSTF said:
What? I'm an idiot because I disagree with you? Most of the people that the US has captive are bad people. A few aren't and they get released, whine to the media about it, get a bunch of publicity.

So what exactly did I say that makes me an idiot?
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your government makes that statue of liberty the biggest piece of ironic um... whatever it's a piece of. It could only be more ironic if france originally gave it to you guys.
 
D

darscot

Member
BSTF said:
So what exactly did I say that makes me an idiot?
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BSTF said:
So what everyone's a terrorist sympathizer now? If this bill makes America safer every American should be for it.
Click to expand...

Now that's good humor, but in all seriousness if you can't see what's wrong with this open up a history book. Look up things like Oscar Schindler and Nazi Sympathizer or even better Jew Sympathizer. Torture is simply bad science no matter how you slice it or how you spin it's complete bullshit. When your government tortures people untill they give names what happens when they give your name? Your not going to think this is such a good idea when your the terrorist sympathiser then are yah?
 
C

Cooter

Lacks the power of instantaneous movement
Is sleep depravation torture?

How about playing loud music for 24 to 48 hours?

What about stripping down combatants and humiliating them? Torture?

People here act as if he signed a bill authorizing the pulling off of fingernails and the cutting off of fingers.

Overreact much?
 
S

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Cooter said:
Is sleep depravation torture?

How about playing loud music for 24 to 48 hours?

What about stripping down combatants and humiliating them? Torture?

People here act as if he signed a bill authorizing the pulling off of fingernails and the cutting off of fingers.

Overreact much?
Click to expand...


Let me see, yes, yes, and yes, simple enough to answer really.
 
W

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
Cooter said:
Is sleep depravation torture?

How about playing loud music for 24 to 48 hours?

What about stripping down combatants and humiliating them? Torture?

People here act as if he signed a bill authorizing the pulling off of fingernails and the cutting off of fingers.

Overreact much?
Click to expand...
waterboarding?
 
W

White Man

Member
Cooter said:
Is sleep depravation torture?

How about playing loud music for 24 to 48 hours?

What about stripping down combatants and humiliating them? Torture?

People here act as if he signed a bill authorizing the pulling off of fingernails and the cutting off of fingers.

Overreact much?
Click to expand...

Yeah! The loss of habeas corpus is nothing to worry about!
 
D

darscot

Member
Cooter said:
Ok. Nuff said.

Thank you.
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Its always funny how people think torture = pain. They can turn you into a drooling fool that spends the rest of his life rockign back in forth in the corner rambling nonsense and never lay a finger on you.
 
M

monchi-kun

Member
Cooter said:
Is sleep depravation torture?

How about playing loud music for 24 to 48 hours?

What about stripping down combatants and humiliating them? Torture?

People here act as if he signed a bill authorizing the pulling off of fingernails and the cutting off of fingers.

Overreact much?
Click to expand...

the terrorists have already won
 
R

ronito

Member
Cooter said:
Is sleep depravation torture?

How about playing loud music for 24 to 48 hours?

What about stripping down combatants and humiliating them? Torture?

People here act as if he signed a bill authorizing the pulling off of fingernails and the cutting off of fingers.

Overreact much?
Click to expand...
Waterboarding. Research it.
 
D

Dragona Akehi

Retired
Cooter said:
Is sleep depravation torture?

How about playing loud music for 24 to 48 hours?

What about stripping down combatants and humiliating them? Torture?

People here act as if he signed a bill authorizing the pulling off of fingernails and the cutting off of fingers.

Overreact much?
Click to expand...

I've got a better question: why isn't this guy banned?
 
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