Senate Proceeding on Sep 19th, 2007 :: 0:13:38 to 0:24:48
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0:13:25 to 0:13:38( Edit History Discussion )

Benjamin L. Cardin: to the senator from southna carolina. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina is recognized. mr. graham: i compliment senator inhofe on that moving tribute to a fallen marine. the issue

0:13:38 to 0:13:50( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: we have before the senate is one of great importance to the country. it will affect the future of this bill. it really will affect the national security needs of our need. it is a bit complicated but

0:13:38 to 0:24:48( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lindsey Graham

0:13:50 to 0:14:02( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: at the end of the day it is not difficult to get your happens around. we're talking about a habeas corpus amendment to the defense authorization bill that will confer upon any combatants housed at guantanamo bay,

0:14:02 to 0:14:12( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: and maybe or places, the ability as an enemy prisoner to go to federal court of their choosing to bring lawsuits against the government, against the military -- something never been granted to any other

0:14:12 to 0:14:25( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: priz increase in any other war -- prisoner in any other war. we had thousands of japanese prisoners housed on american territory in world war ii and not one of the germans or japanese prisoners

0:14:25 to 0:14:38( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: were allowed to go it federal court to sue the troops that caught them on the battlefield or the government holding them in detention as prisoner of war. to start that process now would be, i think,

0:14:38 to 0:14:50( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: an absolute disaster for this country and has never been done before and should not be done now.| now, the history of this issue. guantanamo bay is the place where international terrorists are sent, people

0:14:50 to 0:15:00( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: involved in -- suspected of being involved in the war on terror. sheikh mohammed is there. some very high-value targets are there. bin laden's driver, people that have been involved with al qaeda

0:15:00 to 0:15:11( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: activity and other terrorist groups are housed at guantanamo bay under the theory that they're an unlawful enemy combatant.mb they do not wear a uniform like the germans and the japanese but they're

0:15:11 to 0:15:23( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: very much at war with this country. they attack civilians randomly. nothing is out of bounds in terms of their conduct. so they fit the definition if there ever was one of an unlawful enemy combatant.

0:15:23 to 0:15:35( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: what they do in the law of war is unlawful and they certainly are enemies of this country. sheikh mohammed's transcript regarding his combat status review tribunal, take time to read it. i can assure

0:15:35 to 0:15:46( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: you, he's at war with us. we need to be at war with him. the basic premise that i've been pushing now for years is that the attacks of 9/11 against the world trade center, against the pentagon, the

0:15:46 to 0:15:56( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: hijacking of the airplanes were -- was an act of war. it would be a huge mistake for this country to look at the attacks of 9/11 as criminal activity. we're at war, and we should be applying the law

0:15:56 to 0:16:10( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: of armed conflict. the people that we're fighting very much fall into the category of warriors based on their actions and their own words. well, what is the law of armed conflict? the law of armed

0:16:10 to 0:16:26( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: conflict is governed by a lot of international treaties, the uniform code of military justice, and american case law. what rights does an unlawful enemy combatant have? well, our court looked at guantanamo

0:16:26 to 0:16:36( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: bay. habeas petitions were filed by detainees at guantanamo bay alleging that they were improperly held. the u.s. supreme court in the rasul vs. bush decision in 2004 said there's a congressional

0:16:36 to 0:16:47( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: statute 2, 241, that deals with habeas -- statute, 2241, that deals with habeas rights created by statute. the government argued that guantanamo bay was outside the jurisdiction of federal courts. it

0:16:47 to 0:17:07( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: was not part of the united states. the supreme court said, no, wait a minute. guantanamo bay is effectively controlled by the navy. it is part of the united states. the question for the court: did

0:17:07 to 0:17:19( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: the congress under 2241 intend to exclude al qaeda from the statute? and the answer was congress had taken no action. so the issue six years after the war started here, does the congress wish to confer

0:17:19 to 0:17:32( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: upon enemy combatant terrorists housed at guantanamo bay habeas corpus rights under section 2241 2241, a statute that we wrote? that's the issue. now, imagine, after 9/11 someone come on the floor

0:17:32 to 0:17:46( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: of the senate and -- and make a -- makes the proposal, in case we catch anybody who attacked us on 9/11, i want to make sure they have the right of habeas corpus under 2241 because i want to make

0:17:46 to 0:18:02( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: sure their rights are -- are -- exceed any other prisoner in any other war? i think you would have gotten zero votes. well, that's the issue. now, last year congress spoke to the courts, and the

0:18:02 to 0:18:14( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: d.c. circuit court of appeals understood what we were saying. congress affirmatively struck from the -- from 2241 the ability of a noncitizen -- noncitizen alien enemy combatant to have accesso federal court

0:18:14 to 0:18:25( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: under the habeas statute. why is that so important? from a military point of view, it is hugely important. ushedz under the law of armed conflict, if there's -- under the law of armed conflict, if there's

0:18:25 to 0:18:40( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: a question of status, is the person a civilian, are they part of an organized group, are they an unlawful combatant? there are many different categories that can be conferred upon someone captured

0:18:40 to 0:18:52( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: on a battlefield. under geneva convention article 15, a competent tribunal should be impaneled -- usually one person -- to determine questions of status and the only requirement is they be impartial.

0:18:52 to 0:19:04( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: the -- the question of who an enemy combatant is is a military decision. we should not allow federal judges through habeas petitions to take away from the united states military what is an effectively military

0:19:04 to 0:19:18( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: function of labeling who the enemies of america are. they're not trained for that. our judges don't have the military -- the military background to make decisions as who -- as who the enemy force is

0:19:18 to 0:19:31( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: and how they operate. so a habeas petition would really intrude into the military's ability to manage this war. because if habeas rights were granted by statute to the prisoners at guantanamo bay,

0:19:31 to 0:19:41( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: they could pick through their lawyers any district court in this country. they could go judge shopping and find any judge in this country they felt would be sympathetic and have a full-blown trial,

0:19:41 to 0:19:52( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: calling people off the battlefield, having a complete trial as to whether or not this person is an enemy combatant in federal court and let the judge make that decision. well, that's never been done

0:19:52 to 0:20:08( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: in any other war and it shouldn't be done in this war. judges have a role to play in war but that is not their role. the role of the united states military in this war, as it has been in every other

0:20:08 to 0:20:21( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: war, is to capture people and classify them based on their activity within that war. and habeas would undo that. that's why last year congress said no, that's not the way that we should proceed in this

0:20:21 to 0:20:34( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: war. so what -- we have not -- this is not unknown to our courts. in world war ii, there was a habeas petition filed by german and japanese prisoners that were housed overseas asking the federal

0:20:34 to 0:20:48( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: courts to hear their case and release them from american military confinement. chief justice jackson said, " would be a -- it would be difficult to devise a more effective fettering of a field commander

0:20:48 to 0:20:59( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: than to allow the very enemies he has ordered to reduce to submission to call him to account in his own civil courts and divert his efforts and attention from the military offensive abroad to the legal defensive

0:20:59 to 0:21:11( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: at home." justice jackson was right. and what has happened since these habeas petitions have been filed? hundreds of them have been filed in federal court before congress acted. here's what they're

0:21:11 to 0:21:22( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: alleging. a canadian detainee who threw a grenade that killed an american medic in a firefight and who comes from a family of with long-standing al qaeda ties moved for a preliminary injunction forbidding

0:21:22 to 0:21:36( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: interrogation of him or engaging in cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of him. this was a motion made by an enemy prisoner for the judge to send in there and conduct the interrogation or at least

0:21:36 to 0:21:45( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: monitor the interrogation. i can't think of anything worse in terms of undermining the war effort. a motion by a high-vel al qaeda detainee complaining about base security procedures, speed of mail delivery,

0:21:45 to 0:21:58( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: medical treatment, seeking an order that he be transformed to the least onerous cushions at gitmo, asking the court to order that gitmo allow him to keep any books, reading materials sent to him

0:21:58 to 0:22:11( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: and report to the court on his opportunities for exercise, communication, recreation and worship. hundreds of these lawsuits have been filed under the habeas statute. that's why congress said no, dismiss these

0:22:11 to 0:22:24( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: cases. because they have no business in federal court. surely to god, al qaeda is not going to get more rights than the nazis. surely to god, the congress six years afte9/11 is going to give -- will

0:22:24 to 0:22:39( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: not hopefully give a statutory right to some of the most brutal, vicious people in the world to bring lawsuits against our own troops in a fashion never allowed in any other war. here's what we did

0:22:39 to 0:22:51( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: last year. we allowed the military to determine whether or not a person is an enemy combatant, whether or not they were an unlawful enemy combatant through a competent tribunal standard -- a tribunal

0:22:51 to 0:23:05( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: called a combat status review tribunal made up of three officers. and the legislation allows every decision by the military to be appealed to the d.c. circuit court of appeals so the court can look

0:23:05 to 0:23:18( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: athe quality of the work product and the procedures in place. there is federal court review over activity at guantanamo bay where judges review the work product of the military. to me that is the proper

0:23:18 to 0:23:29( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: way to move forward. because some people at guantanamo bay, because they're so dangerous, may never be released any time soon or may never be released. more people have been released at guantanamo

0:23:29 to 0:23:42( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: bay than are still at guantanamo bay. they were thought not to be a threat. 30 of them have gone back to the fight. we have released people at guantanamo bay to take up arms against us again. that's

0:23:42 to 0:23:53( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: the result of a process where you make a discretionary decision. it would be ill-advised for this congress to confer on american courts the ability to hear a habeas petition from enemy prisoners

0:23:53 to 0:24:03( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: housed at guantanamo bay, where they could go judge shopping and sue our own troops for anything they could think of of, including $100 million lawsuit against the secretary of the defense. that

0:24:03 to 0:24:15( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: will lead to chaos at the jail t. will undermine the war -- jail. it will undermine the war effort. so i'm urging a "no" to this amendment. we have in place federal court review of every military decision

0:24:15 to 0:24:27( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: at guantanamo bay and a way to allow the courts to do what they're best trained to do: review documents, review procedures, review outcomes not to take the place of the united states military. i

0:24:27 to 0:24:39( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: cannot think of a more ill-advised effort to undercut what i think is going to be a war of a long-standing nature than to turn it over to judges and take away the ability to define the enemy from the

0:24:39 to 0:24:48( Edit History Discussion )

Lindsey Graham: military, who's trained to make such decision, and give it to whatever judge you can find, wherever you can find him or her and let them have a full-blown trial and our national -- at our national security

0:24:48 to 0:25:01( Edit History Discussion )

Arlen Specter: detriment. i'm urging a "no" vote. and i yield back the balance of my time. the presiding officer: who yields time? mr. specter: mr. presispdent? the presiding officer: the senator from -- mr.

0:24:48 to 0:33:14( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Arlen Specter