On the recordNovember 17, 2011
No. 2, that determination shall not interfere with any interrogation which is undertaken by civilian or any other authorities; is that not correct? And, finally, on top of that, there is a waiver that is provided. We have all of that protection. So the statements that are made on this floor and in some of the press that somehow or other we are pushing everybody who is determined to be al-Qaida into the military detention system is not accurate because we have those three protections, the procedures for that decision as to whether someone is al-Qaida, our procedures, which the President is going to adopt; secondly, we only apply this to al-Qaida, not to everybody who might be captured; and, third, we have a waiver for triple protection to protect what the Senator rightly is sensitive to, and that is there be flexibility in the executive branch. All of us may say we want it done one way or another. We may presume it be done one way or another, we may wish that it be done one way, civilian or military. Some of us may have different opinions. That is not the point. That is not the issue. The issue is what does this bill provide. This bill provides a reasonable amount of flexibility and does not tell the President you must turn somebody who is suspected of being al-Qaida over to the civilians at any point or to the military at any point.
