Al Franken: “I have filed two amendments that I will offer at some time, and I will talk about them now. I am strongly opposed to the…”

“I have filed two amendments that I will offer at some time, and I will talk about them now. I am strongly opposed to the detention provisions in the Defense bill before us. I am disappointed that Senator Udall's amendment did not pass. Taken together, sections 1031 and 1032 would fundamentally alter how we investigate, arrest, and detain individuals suspected of terrorism. Before I get into the details of why I oppose these detainee provisions, I think it is important to recognize that September 11 irrevocably and unalterably changed our lives. I was in Minnesota on that terrible day. A number of Minnesotans died in the towers, in the air, and at the Pentagon. In New York, in the months following the attacks, I attended the funerals of brave firefighters and law enforcement officers who sacrificed their lives to help rescue folks from the towers. I cannot shake those images from my mind, and I am guessing, like many of you, I will never be able to erase the horrors of September 11 from my mind. September 11 reminded us that we are vulnerable and that we are fighting an unusual enemy. It forced us to reassess our approach to counterterrorism, and it forced us to redouble our efforts to track down the people who aim to do us harm. But it is exactly in these difficult moments, in these periods of war when our country is under attack, that we must be doubly vigilant about projecting what makes us Americans.…”