Political Quotes

“the provisions I am speaking to are well intended. I have much admiration for my colleagues who propose them, but I think we need to take some more time to consider the ramifications. The United States, our country, can currently choose from several options when prosecuting terrorists. That flexibility has allowed us to try, convict, and imprison hundreds of terrorists, and it allows the government to select the venue that will provide the highest likelihood of obtaining a conviction. The current detention provisions in the bill we are debating would strip away that flexibility and potentially impair our capacity to successfully prosecute and convict terrorists. It is not clear to me why, after 10 years of successfully prosecuting terrorists and preventing another 9/11-like attack, why we would want to limit our options while our enemies are constantly adapting their tactics and expanding their efforts to do us harm. In a recent op-ed in the Chicago Times, a bipartisan group of three former Federal judges, including William S. Sessions, who was also the appointed Director of the FBI under President Reagan, said it best when describing these provisions: Legislation now making its way through Congress would seek to over-militarize America's counterterrorism efforts, effectively making the U.S. military the judge, jury and jailer of terrorism suspects to the exclusion of the FBI and local and State law enforcement agencies.…”