Statement by U.S. Senator Mark Dayton on the Military Tribunal Bill

Statement by U.S. Senator Mark Dayton on the Military Tribunal Bill

U.S. Senator Mark Dayton today issued the following statement on the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (S.3930).

I want to be tough against terrorists, as this legislation claims to be; but I also want to be smart about it, and this bill is not.

Its worst provisions would be applied not only to known Al Qaeda members but also to almost 500 other detainees, who have been held prisoners without trials at Guantanamo for over four years, and to over 14,000 Iraqi citizens who are now imprisoned indefinitely in that country. Many of them will eventually be found innocent of anti-American activities and released. However, most of them and their families and friends will hate us for the rest of their lives, after being imprisoned for months or years, denied due process, many tortured or abused, and their families denied any knowledge of their whereabouts or even whether they are still alive.

The recently unclassified National Intelligence Estimate concluded that the War in Iraq has greatly increased anti-American feelings throughout the Arab world and created a new generation of terrorists. There can be no doubt that the barbaric treatment of thousands of Muslims has fueled some part of that growing hatred of the United States and has contributed to the increased threat of terrorists attacks against our country and our citizens.

This legislation allows the continued torture of detainees, denies them the basic rights to challenge their indefinite incarceration, and even strips from U.S. Courts their Constitutional authority to determine the Constitutionality of this legislation.

It is absolutely untrue that providing detainees with the most basic legal and human rights will require their release from military prisons. Under the rules of the Geneva Convention, even if an enemy combatant could not be prosecuted, or even if he were acquitted in a trial, he could still be held indefinitely as a "prisoner of war," until the President declared the war against terrorism to be concluded.

Finally, providing humane and just treatment to detainees protects our own servicemen and women and intelligence operatives around the world. As Republican Senator John McCain, who was held prisoner in North Vietnam for five and a half years during that war and was tortured by his captors, has said repeatedly, we cannot insist that other countries abide by the Geneva Convention and treat our citizens humanely, if we do not do so ourselves. In other words, we must follow the Golden Rule: "Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you."

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