Senators Gain Momentum to Change Military Tribunal System

[Judi Lynn]

Senators Gain Momentum to Change Military Tribunal System
Bipartisan Group Looking at Standard Military Law and Court-Martial Rules as Model for Commissions

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 15, 2006; Page A06

With the Bush administration divided and no clear voice emerging in the House, a bipartisan group of senators is gaining momentum to push through legislation that would create military tribunals based on standard military law and the rules of courts-martial, senators and House members said yesterday.

Several days of hearings on military tribunals revealed deep rifts in the administration -- between some White House officials and Justice and Defense Department lawyers, and between uniformed military personnel and civilian Pentagon appointees. Senators are ready to use those divisions to their advantage, marshaling their own authority and the clout of top military lawyers to make significant changes to a tribunal system created by President Bush following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that was rejected last month by the Supreme Court

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who used his standing as a former tortured prisoner of war to pass legislation last year banning torture at U.S. detention facilities, will reprise that role as the face of the Senate's tribunal legislation. He in turn will defer to Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), the Senate's only active military lawyer, on the substance of the bill.

Backing them will be Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), the committee's ranking Democrat, and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/14/AR2006071401307.html

[maddezmom]

1. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2390684