Dems to captured terrorists: Help is on the way!

Democrats to revisit detainee issues

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats plan to use their newfound power to revisit one of the most contentious national security matters of 2006: Deciding what legal rights must be protected for detainees held in the war on terrorism.

In September, Congress passed a bill that gave President Bush wide latitude in interrogating and detaining captured enemy combatants. The legislation, backed by the White House, prompted three months of debate -- exposing Republican fissures and prompting angry rebukes by Democrats of the administration's interrogation policies.

With the November 7 elections handing control to the Democrats, the issue is far from settled. A group of Senate Democrats and one Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, want to resurrect the bill to fix at least one provision they say threatens the nation's credibility on human rights issues.

As Democrats plan to revisit detainees' rights, Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer is trying to cast doubt on the U.S. handling of the ousted leader. Hussein is expected to remain in a U.S. military prison until he is handed over to Iraqi authorities on the day of his execution. Hussein's lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said Thursday that international law should protect Hussein from being handed over to his enemies.

Human rights groups contacted on Thursday said that while they have expressed concerns about the Iraqi legal system, this latest claim has not been one of them.

The proposed revisions to the terrorism detainee bill could surface in the new Congress early in the year, staffers say -- with new sympathetic ears in leadership and a slim Democratic majority in Congress.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who will take control of the Senate as majority leader next year, "would support attempts to revisit some of the most extreme elements of the bill," including language stripping detainees of habeas corpus rights, although no immediate action is planned, said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.

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Leahy and other Democrats, led by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut, have another proposal that would go much further by eliminating other provisions of the White House bill. Among other things, Dodd's legislation would specifically bar coerced statements as testimony and limit the president's authority in interpreting international standards for prisoner treatment.

In contrast, the bill signed by Bush in October allows coerced evidence under narrow circumstances and leaves it up to the president to implement Geneva Convention standards.

Dodd and other Democrats say such protections should be afforded to terror suspects because the United States would want other nations to apply similar rights to U.S. troops captured in war.

"I strongly believe that terrorists who seek to destroy America must be punished for any wrongs they commit against this country," Dodd told Bush in a November letter, urging the president to delay implementation of the bill.

"But in my view, in order to sustain America's moral authority and win a lasting victory against our enemies, such punishment must be meted out only in accordance with the rule of law," Dodd added.

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Great thanks are due to Denny Hastert, Bill Frist and all the other weak-as-water Republicans whose leadership produced a Disloyal Opposition majority in both houses.

Is Dodd for real?

First of all, the "rule of law" is what Congress passed and the president signed earlier this year.

But more important -- does he truly believe that if with we play nice with these savages that they are going to think twice about beheading and mutilating captured American soldiers?

Mohammed to Senator Dodd: Get a fricking grip!

These are the same people who question the president's intelligence.

Gonna be a long two years for the defenders of Civilization.