--George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, September 20, 2001
President George W. Bush signs into law S. 3930, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, during a ceremony Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006, in the East Room of the White House. Joining him on stage, from left are: Utah Rep. Chris Cannon, Indiana Rep. Steve Buyer, Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, and Sen. John Warner of Virginia. General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales are in the background. White House photo by Paul Morse
WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed legislation Tuesday authorizing tough interrogation of terror suspects and smoothing the way for trials before military commissions, calling it a "vital tool" in the war against terrorism.
..."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.
A coalition of religious groups staged a protest against the bill outside the White House, shouting "Bush is the terrorist" and "Torture is a crime." About 15 of the protesters, standing in a light rain, refused orders to move. Police arrested them one by one.
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.
"Bush is the terrorist."
Those protesters are truly blinded by hate for the President.
There is absolutley no moral equivalency to what the terrorists have done and what our troops and government personnel have done since war was declared on the United States by al Qaeda and like-minded groups of Islamic extremists.
ZERO.
"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.
"We will answer brutal murder with patient justice," Bush said. "Those who kill the innocent will be held to account."
"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 threats to our freedom," Bush said. "We are as determined today as we were on the morning of Sept. 12, 2001."
..."Over the past few months, the debate over this bill has been heated and the questions raised can seem complex," he said. "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?"
That will be President Bush's legacy. That's how he will be judged in history.
"Did this generation of Americans take the threat seriously? And did we do what it takes to defeat that threat?"
He has had to do battle with the terrorists AND the people at home, even members of his own party.
Who would have thought that some Americans would actually be more concerned with protecting ruthless terrorists than protecting innocents and our homeland after what we all witnessed on 9/11?
The American Civil Liberties Union said the new law is "one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history."
"The president can now, with the approval of Congress, indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections against horrific abuse, put people on trial based on hearsay evidence, authorize trials that can sentence people to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses, and slam shut the courthouse door for habeas petitions," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.
"Nothing could be further from the American values we all hold in our hearts than the Military Commissions Act," he said.
The ACLU members have short memories.
They don't remember 9/11.
They don't remember people jumping to their deaths from the highest floors of the World Trade Center to escape the TORTURE of being burned alive.
Those victims didn't get a day in court.
The reality is there are terrorists plotting to kill more Americans, just as they plotted throughout the 90s.
They intend to hit us again, just as they did repeatedly during the 90s.
They want to outdo their last great achievement, the 9/11 attacks.
That is a frightening thought.
WE ARE AT WAR.
The swift implementation of the law is a rare bit of good news for Bush as casualties mount in Iraq in daily violence. Lawmakers are increasingly calling for a change of strategy and political anxieties are jeopardizing Republican's chances of hanging onto control of Congress.
This isn't about politics. It's about justice and waging war against a ruthless enemy.
Back in June, I wrote about the brutality of the Iraqi terrorists/insurgents and the compassion and dedication of our troops.
My question to the ACLU:
Is protecting terrorists, the types that have no qualms about beheading a child, part of American values?
Children looking for handouts of candy would often approach 1st Lt. Anselm T.W. Richards and the men in his platoon. The soldiers would oblige them, then ask for information.
Sometimes, the children would tell them who made bombs and dealt in weapons. Everybody in town seemed to know the answer.
One day, Richards says, the parents of a 12-year-old boy told him their son had been beheaded by insurgents because he accepted a soccer ball as a gift from soldiers.
"We said to the parents, 'You tell us who did it and we will get them.' They said if we talk to you, they'll kill us as well,'" says Richards, a hedge fund broker from Philadelphia.
"That's the fear in which these people live. That's probably the biggest hindrance to them moving forward."
The people that killed this child are savages. That is the nature of our enemies.
They are enemies of humanity.
They are enemies of freedom.
I certainly do not think that the U.S. should engage in torture as a routine means of interrogation. However, I certainly want U.S. personnel to be able to interrogate the enemny without fear of being deemed war criminals or terrorists.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 achieves that.
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Support our troops.
Read about their stories at Blue Star Chronicles, a great place to find accounts of their bravery and their sacrifices made in the name of Americans and all freedom-loving people.
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