Political Quotes

“I would say why I wanted to do that. I want to be able to say--and not to my political advantage. But I want to be able to tell people post-Abu Ghraib, post-early Guantanamo Bay, we have cleaned up our act. We are trying to get the balance we didn't have originally. I want to be able to tell people we no longer torture in America. That is why you and I wrote the Detainee Treatment Act, with Senator McCain, the War Powers Act that clearly bans waterboarding. I want to be able to tell anybody who is interested that no person in an American prison--civilian or military--held as a suspected member of al-Qaida will be held without independent judicial review. We are not allowing the executive branch to make that decision unchecked. For the first time in the history of American warfare, every American combatant held by the executive branch will have their day in Federal court, and the government has to prove by a preponderance of the evidence you are in fact part of the enemy force. And we did not stop there. Because this could be a war without end, we require an annual review process where each year the individual's case is evaluated as to whether they still maintain a threat or they have intelligence that could be gathered by longer confinement. What I would say to our colleagues is that we have tried to strike that balance. There are a lot of people who don't like the idea that you give these terrorists Federal hearings and lawyers and all that other stuff.…”