13 October 2006
Bush Signs Military Commission Act To Try Terrorist Suspects
Law sets guidelines for trials while preserving CIA interrogations
Washington – President Bush has signed a new law that he says will allow terrorist suspects to receive fair trials while preserving the ability of the Central Intelligence Agency to continue interrogating suspected terrorist leaders and operatives.
“It is a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill he knows will save American lives,” Bush said October 17 while signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 into law. “I have that privilege this morning.”
The new law “is one of the most important pieces of legislation in the War on Terror,” Bush said.
The new law authorizes the president to establish military commissions to try unlawful enemy combatants suspected of engaging in or planning hostile acts against the United States. The United States has said that al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in U.S. custody meet the definition of “unlawful enemy combatant” under the Geneva Conventions, which govern the rights of individuals in combat. (See related article.)
In early 2002, President Bush authorized a system of military commissions to try foreign suspects accused of war crimes. However, in June 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the president’s plan violated the U.S. Constitution and said military commissions needed to be authorized explicitly by the U.S. Congress. (See related article.)
The Supreme Court ruling led to intense political debates in Congress on how to craft a law that balanced the rights of detainees with the desire to bring suspected terrorists to justice while gathering intelligence to prevent future attacks. The Military Commissions Act includes such legal protections as presumption of innocence, the right to call and cross-examine witnesses, the right to legal defense and the right to not be forced to testify.
“We will use these commissions to bring justice to the men believed to have planned the attacks of September 11, 2001,” Bush said. “We’ll also seek to prosecute those believed responsible for the attack on the USS Cole [in Aden, Yemen], 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 [in August 1998], which killed more than 200 innocent people and wounded 5,000 more.”
The trials, Bush said, “will send a clear message to those who kill Americans: We will find you, and we will bring you to justice.”
The Military Commission Act “complies with both the spirit and the letter of our international obligations,” Bush said. The act describes specific offenses that, if committed by U.S. personnel against detainees, would be considered crimes. In addition, the act bars military commissions from considering testimony obtained since December 30, 2005, through interrogation techniques that involve cruel or inhumane treatment. December 30, 2005, is the date President Bush signed the 2006 supplemental Defense Department appropriations bill that included a section, known as the McCain amendment, setting standards for humane treatment of detainees.
“As I’ve said before, the United States does not torture,” Bush said. “It’s against our laws and against our values.”
Bush said the Military Commissions Act “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 11th … attacks.” (See related article.)
A White House fact sheet listed several instances in which CIA interrogations helped save American lives or led to the apprehension of suspected terrorists. According to the fact sheet, the CIA program has helped the United States:
• Gain vital intelligence from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al Shibh, two men believed to have helped plan and facilitate the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
• Break up a cell of 17 Southeast Asian terrorist operatives being groomed for attacks inside the United States.
• Uncover key operatives in al-Qaida’s biological weapons program, including a cell developing anthrax to be used in terrorist attacks.
• Identify terrorists who were sent to survey potential targets within the United States, including financial buildings in major cities along the U.S. East Coast.
• Stop a planned strike on U.S. Marines in Djibouti, a planned attack on a the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan and a plot to hijack passenger planes and fly them into Heathrow Airport and Canary Wharf in London.
The Pentagon’s American Force Press Service reported that trials under military commissions are not likely to begin until late spring or summer 2007. Pentagon officials said the majority of 440 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba would not face military commissions. Officials estimated that about 75 detainees would face commissions, which will hear cases involving violations of the laws of war and other grave offenses.
A transcript of President Bush’s statement and a fact sheet on the Military Commissions Act of 2006 are posted on the White House Web site.
For additional information, see Detainee Issues.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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