WP: (House v. Senate) Battle Looms In Congress Over Military Tribunals

[DeepModem Mom]

Battle Looms In Congress Over Military Tribunals
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 13, 2006; Page A06

House Republicans signaled a coming clash with the Senate over the future of military tribunals yesterday when Armed Service Committee members indicated they were inclined to give the Bush administration largely what it wants in the conduct of terrorism trials.

The tone at the first House hearing since the Supreme Court tossed out President Bush's tribunals last month was markedly different from Tuesday's Senate hearing, where lawmakers from both parties said they wanted to make significant changes to the White House's plans....

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At the root of the dispute are differing interpretations about the Supreme Court's mandate when it ruled June 29 that a Yemeni detainee at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could not be tried by a special military commission established by the administration. The court held that the commissions violate U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions, especially the conventions' Common Article 3, which prohibits "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."

Administration officials asserted yesterday that the court found no real problems with the tribunal rules, only that those rules need to be voted into law by Congress. (Republican Representatives) Dell'Orto and Bradbury maintain -- and most House Armed Services Republicans agree -- that Congress should start with the administration's system, make a few minor changes, then pass a law creating the tribunals....

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Key Senate Republicans -- including Specter, Armed Services Chairman John W. Warner (Va.); Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), a reserve military lawyer; and John McCain (Ariz.) -- say Congress should start with the existing Uniform Code of Military Justice and the rules that govern courts-martial, then adapt them to the war on terrorism....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/12/AR2006071201777.html

[wtmusic]

1. Why do Democrats never bring up the 1996 Act

that made adherence to Geneva formally part of US law? Is there not a conflict here?

[joemurphy]

2. Our noble and beloved House is right! Let there be kangaroos!

[leesa]

3. Good. Let them go at each other's throats. The more publicity this gets

the better. The Post is really painting the Representatives as dufuses..which they are, of course. I so want to see Duncan Hunter sent to jail.