Francis Rooney: “My amendment simply codifies in the NDAA that any foreign terrorist detained be tried in a military tribunal set up by…”

“My amendment simply codifies in the NDAA that any foreign terrorist detained be tried in a military tribunal set up by this Congress rather than in an Article III court. The reason for that is quite simple. Article III courts, which are reserved for our citizens, afford constitutional rights: the right of an attorney, the right to remain silent, a right to face your accuser and to contradict the evidence that's brought against you, evidence which sometimes is being offered by the government and by people in the intelligence community-- information and sources that need to be protected. Military tribunals, I think, are the more adequate venue for foreign terrorist enemy combatants to be tried and to be given due process fairly, which would also protect our sources and would also protect the way that we gather evidence by men and women in uniform and by panels of men and women in uniform. I had the pleasure of serving in the United States Army JAG Corps. They are people of the utmost integrity and the utmost fairness. Specifically, despite the fact of our moving further away from 9/11, the war on terror continues, as we have seen with Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber, as we have seen with Major Nidal Hasan in the Fort Hood shootings, as we have seen with the Times Square bombing, and as we have seen as recently as last week in a second attempt at an underwear-type bombing on an airplane.…”