MPAC Disheartened by Passage of Senate, House Bills on Rules Governing Detainee Treatment

September 28, 2006


The Muslim Public Affairs Council today joined a chorus of American legal and civic institutions that are disheartened with the passage of the House and Senate detainee bills, which give the President overly broad authority and limits the ability of detainees to defend themselves during trials. The Senate today passed a nearly identical bill that serves as a negotiated compromise between the White House and influential Senate Republicans.

SEE: "Senate Passes Detainee Bill Sought by President Bush" (New York Times, 9/28/06)

Although both Bills give detainees more rights than offered prior to the Hamdan decision in which the Supreme Court found Bush-administration proceedings to be unconstitutional, they still fall short of the scope of current military law and offer a presumption in favor of the Secretary of Defense's perspectives and decisions unless otherwise limited by the bill.

"In our fight to defend our nation, fight global terror and enfranchise moderates of all religions, we cannot relegate to the history books those founding principles that make our nation what it is," said Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC Executive Director. "The current legislation allows the world to think that America has given in to those that want to change us from a nation of laws and order to a nation that is scrambling to defend itself event at the cost of its identity."

Among the numerous concerns MPAC has over the bill, the inapplicability of many fundamental legal principles to the activities of intelligence officers, CIA or otherwise, create confusion and a double standard in the application of international legal principles to the actions of U.S. personnel in the global war on terror. The new version of the legislation also includes a vague and expanded definition of "unlawful enemy combatants" violating the most elementary legal distinctions between combatants and non-combatants.

Most disappointing is the attempt by some members on both sides of the aisle to politicize this effort in the run-up to the November elections attempting to show a strong stand in the war on terror. As we fight this war many at home do not understand the ramifications of such policies on the ability of Muslims globally to quell the influence of those that insist on positing the current conflict as a "clash of civilizations" or a "war on Islam." Our nation's ability to win the war depends on our willingness to stick to the principles that define us, secret detention facilities, secret trials and overly broad executive authority do not aid us in that endeavor.




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