Reform on Detentions-Congressional Dems MUST INSIST On Accountability

[kpete]

Democrats now will have the opportunity -- and the duty -- to insist on accountability.

Reform on Detentions
Democrats will now have the chance to curtail the Bush administration's human rights abuses.
Sunday, November 19, 2006; Page B06


EARLIER THIS fall congressional Democrats made only a token effort to stop passage of deeply flawed Bush administration legislation on the detention, interrogation and trial of "enemy combatants" in the war on terrorism. First they hid behind a group of Republican moderates who tried to modify the law's worst aspects; when that resulted in a bad compromise, they gave up serious opposition rather than risk being accused of being weak on terrorism in the run-up to an election. Having won that election, the Democrats now have a second chance to temper the administration's excesses and to insist on accountability for past crimes. It ought to be at the top of their agenda.

So far several Democrats in each chamber are taking up the matter. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) has prepared a bill correcting the worst problems in the Military Commissions Act, including its overly broad definition of enemy combatants. Incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) will support a renewed effort to restore the right of detainees to bring lawsuits over their imprisonment; an amendment sponsored by outgoing Republican Chairman Arlen Specter (Pa.) failed in September by just three votes. Proponents of reform will have to take into account the possibility of a veto by President Bush -- or the Senate filibuster they themselves declined to employ. But the restoration of the ancient right of habeas corpus is essential to bringing the United States back into conformance with international norms of human rights. It ought to be something a strong majority in Congress can agree on.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/18/AR2006111800816.html