Wouldn't it be kind of hard to explain to our constituents that our top lawyers in the Pentagon and CIA said today that once an American citizen decides to help al-Qaida they can be killed in a drone attack, but the Congress somehow says…

So in a situation where an American citizen goes to Pakistan and gets radicalized in a madrasah, gets on a plane and flies back to Dulles Airport, gets off the plane and takes up arms against his fellow citizens, then goes to the mall and…

Our military has said they do not want that authority. They want to deal with enemy combatants when it comes to military commission trials. But our military CI and FBI have all understood their power to detain for intelligence-gathering…

And executed. The Senator from Michigan and I have said, along with our colleagues, that military commissions cannot be used to try American citizens.

Yes. And the In re Quirin case, which Hamdi cited and affirmed, was a fact pattern that went as follows: We had German saboteurs, some living in America before they went back to Germany--I think one or two may have been an American…

Does the Senator agree with me that in prior wars American citizens have been involved in aiding the enemy of their time?

If I may just add--not only is that the effect, that would be a change in law because the Senator agrees with me that in other conflicts, prior to the one we are in today, American citizens, unfortunately, have been involved in aiding the…

Does the Senator believe America is part of the battlefield in our global war on terror?

Not only would I agree that 1032 and 1031--the compromise language about statement of authority to detain and military detaining as a presumption--has nothing to do with the choice of venue, there are people on my side who are champing at…

Yes. It is not only a presumption that can be waived, based on what the experts in the field think is necessary; the waiver provision is incredibly flexible. You do not have to stop an interrogation to get the waiver. The executive branch…

The Times Square Bomber, nobody interrupted that plot. The guy did not know how to set the bomb off. We are lucky as hell the bomb did not go off. So do not stand here and tell me that we have got it right, because we have not. And here is…

Is this a fair statement: If it was your goal to prevent military commissions from ever being used, you didn't get your way in this legislation. If it was your goal to mandate that military commissions are the only venue to be used, you…

So the issue is pretty simple. Our courts at the highest level--the Supreme Court has acknowledged that the executive branch has the legal authority to hold an American citizen who is collaborating with an enemy as an enemy belligerent to…

Simply stated, when the American citizens in question decided to give aid and comfort to the Nazis, I am very glad they were allowed to be held by the military and interrogated about the plot and what they knew, because intelligence…

Exactly. I would add, and get Senator Kyl's comment. Wouldn't it be an absurd result if you can kill an American citizen abroad--Awlaki--whatever his name was--the President targeted him for assassination because he was an American citizen…

While we decide how we are going to move on the Defense bill, I appreciate Senator Kyl coming to the floor. Senator Kyl and I, along with Senators Levin and McCain, have been working on detainee policy for years now. There is an issue that…

I ask unanimous consent to enter into a colloquy, and if the Chair could let me know when 10 minutes has expired. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

I believe we are still in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.

I say to my good friend from California, you are a patriot. You are here for all of the right reasons. We just have a strong disagreement about where we stand as a nation. Nobody interrupted the Christmas Day Bomber plot. The people on the…

In the Military Commission Act of 2009, we prohibited American citizens from being tried by military commissions. I am OK with that. But what we have not done--and I would be very upset if we chose to do that--is take off the table the…

Yes. The In re Quirin case dealt with an American citizen helping the Nazis in America. The Hamdi case dealt with an American citizen helping the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mr. McCAIN. The reason why I raise the question is because the…

I am of the view that we are overly criminalizing the war. I don't want to adopt that policy. There is nothing in this language that has anything at all to do with how you try somebody and what venue you pick. I am in the camp--and I think…

So the law, at least since 1942, by the Supreme Court has been that if someone decides as an American citizen to join forces with enemies of the United States, they have committed an act of war against their fellow citizens. It is not a…

Does the Senator agree with me that our Supreme Court ruled then that when an American citizen decides to collaborate and assist an enemy force, that is viewed as an act of war and the law of war applies to the conduct of the American…

Is the Senator familiar with the efforts by German saboteurs who landed--I believe, in the Long Island area, but I don't know exactly where they landed--during World War II, and they were aided by American citizens to execute a sabotage…