Yes. It is not only a presumption that can be waived, based on what the experts in the field think is necessary; the waiver provision is incredibly flexible. You do not have to stop an interrogation to get the waiver. The executive branch…

Madam President, I thank Senators Levin and McCain for drafting a compromise that I think speaks to the best of this country. To my colleagues, please don't upset this delicate balance. If you do, you will open a Pandora's box. Mr. McCAIN…

The Times Square Bomber, nobody interrupted that plot. The guy did not know how to set the bomb off. We are lucky as hell the bomb did not go off. So do not stand here and tell me that we have got it right, because we have not. And here is…

Is this a fair statement: If it was your goal to prevent military commissions from ever being used, you didn't get your way in this legislation. If it was your goal to mandate that military commissions are the only venue to be used, you…

So the issue is pretty simple. Our courts at the highest level--the Supreme Court has acknowledged that the executive branch has the legal authority to hold an American citizen who is collaborating with an enemy as an enemy belligerent to…

Simply stated, when the American citizens in question decided to give aid and comfort to the Nazis, I am very glad they were allowed to be held by the military and interrogated about the plot and what they knew, because intelligence…

Exactly. I would add, and get Senator Kyl's comment. Wouldn't it be an absurd result if you can kill an American citizen abroad--Awlaki--whatever his name was--the President targeted him for assassination because he was an American citizen…

While we decide how we are going to move on the Defense bill, I appreciate Senator Kyl coming to the floor. Senator Kyl and I, along with Senators Levin and McCain, have been working on detainee policy for years now. There is an issue that…

I believe we are still in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.

I say to my good friend from California, you are a patriot. You are here for all of the right reasons. We just have a strong disagreement about where we stand as a nation. Nobody interrupted the Christmas Day Bomber plot. The people on the…

In the Military Commission Act of 2009, we prohibited American citizens from being tried by military commissions. I am OK with that. But what we have not done--and I would be very upset if we chose to do that--is take off the table the…

Yes. Mr. McCAIN. Yet in the Supreme Court decision reference is made to an individual who was captured during World War II in the United States of America; isn't that correct? It was referenced in the Supreme Court decision.

Does he agree with me that our courts understand that when an American citizen collaborates with an enemy of our Nation, that is an act of war by that citizen against his own country and the law of war applies, not domestic criminal law?

Yes, it is. Mr. McCAIN. So our colleague from Illinois who continues to quote from the Constitution of the United States fails to quote from the specific addressing of this issue by the U.S. Supreme Court, specifically the Hamdan decision…

That is correct. Mr. McCAIN. Is it not true that according to that decision, the U.S. Supreme Court, whom we ask to interpret the Constitution of the United States--they have made many interpretations over the years--says there is no bar…

I will be glad to yield to my friend from Illinois. Let me just try to set the stage the best I can. And I would love to have Senator Levin weigh in and anyone else. The law, as it exists today, to my good friend from Illinois, has long…

That we should reserve prosecution for a limited class of persons among enemy prisoners?

There is no requirement in international law to prosecute an enemy prisoner for a crime?