The hell
with our Constitution:
At a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Republican Chairman Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said Congress should help to define the legal rights of the inmates at the prison, which the panel's top Democrat called "an international embarrassment."
Delaware Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record) asked Deputy Associate Attorney General J. Michael Wiggins whether the Justice Department had "defined when there is the end of conflict."
"No, sir," Wiggins responded.
"If there is no definition as to when the conflict ends, that means forever, forever, forever these folks get held at Guantanamo Bay," Biden said.
"It's our position that, legally, they can be held in perpetuity," Wiggins said [...]
Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record) of Alabama said: "This country is not systematically abusing prisoners. We have no policy to do so. And it's wrong to suggest that. And it puts our soldiers at risk who are in this battle because we sent them there."
Referring to detainees, Sessions added, "Some of them need to be executed."
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joined Specter and others who said Congress needed to get involved to better define the process at Guantanamo.
"I think it would be tremendously helpful if the Congress and the administration came together with some general statutory language to help define what's going on at Guantanamo Bay, to better define what an enemy combatant is, to make sure that due process is affordable," Graham said.
Neanderthals like Sessions want to kill some of these detainees, fine -- set up a system of due process so that they can be given proper due process. If he wants to protect U.S. image abroad, then hold those responsible for torture accountable.
It's interesting that Lindsey Graham is siding against the administration on this issue. Remember, he is JAG -- a former military lawyer. He understand better than most the importance of protecting the military's image by having it do the Right Thing.
The Wingers are freakin' out about Durbin right now, trying to shut his efforts to speak the truth. But if they really wanted to protect the soldiers (six more who have been killed today), the way to do it is to stand for basic democratic principles and ideals.
Such as the one that dictators and tyrants use torture, democracies do not.