Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I will wrap this up. I know we have colleagues who want to speak. Let me reiterate what Senator Lieberman said. There is a stream of thought that every member of al-Qaida, American citizen or not, is an enemy of the people of the United States in a military sense, not a criminal sense, and they should be in a military tribunal. That is the way we have handled most cases in the past. Here is what I believe: I believe that the choice of venue should lie with the executive branch, and I think there is a very robust role for article III courts. So I don't want to say from a congressional point of view that every member of al-Qaida has to be tried by a military commission all the time, because, quite frankly, sometimes article III courts could be the better venue. When it comes to telling the executive branch that you have to put a noncitizen in military custody inside the United States, I think that is the right way to do it, but I don't know enough, so if there is a reason to waive that provision, the experts can waive it. I have been very cautious about micromanaging the executive branch because they are the ones fighting the war. We have a role to play, we have a voice to be heard, and here is what I am urging some my colleagues.…”