President Bush, keeping his election-year focus on national security, is to sign a bill into law on Tuesday that allows tough interrogation and prosecution of terrorism suspects.And now it’s “tough interrogation,” eh? You know, if you’d stuck with “torture,” you wouldn’t have had to change your wording.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 sets standards for interrogating suspects, but through a complex set of rules that human rights groups say could allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia.Because compromise is such a good thing for keeping everything in check.
With Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales looking on, Bush is to sign the bill which was negotiated in September after senior Republicans rebelled against the president's plan and forced concessions from him.
The new law means Bush can continue a secret CIA program for interrogating terrorism suspects whom he believes have vital information that could thwart a plot against America.No worries, then. So long as we can torture those terr’ists—and only those terr’ists—in secret prisons, we and our liberties are safe! Of course, “terrorist” is so loosely defined that anyone who opposes a government anything qualifies as a terrorist.
It establishes military tribunals that would allow some use of evidence obtained by coercion, but would give defendants access to classified evidence being used to convict them.What good does access to evidence do you if you’re guilty in the tribunal’s eyes, anyway?
“The president will mark a historic day in which he will sign a bill that he knows will help prevent terrorist attacks,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.Why is it that you have to push major items through by claiming it’s to protect us from the terr’ists? Because it wouldn’t work any other way. And maybe I don’t want to be protected from terr’ism. Maybe I like my rights and liberties just the way they used to be.
Bush is expected to speak briefly at the ceremony. He is trying to help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. Congress by contending they are stronger on national security, a stance with which Democrats vehemently disagree.There you have it, folks. This bill wasn’t really to protect us from the terr’ists and their terr’ism. It was to maintain Republican control of the Congress. Not that I want the Democrats in.
[…] Read the original article, sans commentary.
[+] Add to your del.icio.us.
3 comments:
Ooh, vair vair interesting!
For my English coursework we can write whatever we want and I was thinking about writing something
WHAT WAS I DOING THERE?! I JUST STOPPED HALF-WAY THROUGH!
Ha ha ha!
I was thinking about writing something about relations between America and the Middle East, namely Iran. Like, a report or a speech or something.
U.S.-MidEast relations...well, that should definitely prove interesting. I don't have much in-depth information on that now, but I'm sure with a few days’ worth of Googling I could find tons of it.
Post a Comment