Political Quotes

“I thank the Chair, and I thank my friend, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. I rise respectfully to oppose the amendment the Senator from Colorado has offered, though in some measure I thank him for offering it because this has been an important and good debate. My own position, stated briefly, is this: As Senator Levin has said, we are a nation at war. As such we were attacked on 9/11. We adopted in this Chamber the authorization for military force. That is about as close to a declaration of war as we have done since the Second World War. The comparison is exact because what happened to us on 9/11 was in some ways even worse than what happened in December of 1941 when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor. A nation at war that seizes those who have declared themselves to be part of enemy forces and have attempted to attack the American people, or America, should be treated as enemy combatants, as prisoners of war, according to the law of war. To me, that is a matter of principle. Regardless of what statistics one can cite about how well prosecutions have gone in article III courts, that is, to me, not ultimately the point. If we are at war, the people who are fighting against us ought to be treated as prisoners of war. In fact, we are without a policy now, as Senator Ayotte said.…”