Now, we are good friends, and we are going to stay that way. But you keep saying something, Senator Durbin, that is not true. The law of the land is that an American citizen can be held as an enemy combatant. It is the Hamdi decision, and…

Under the law as it exists today, an American citizen can be held as an enemy combatant. The question we are debating on the floor--Senator Feinstein is saying that in the future an American citizen who is deemed to have collaborated with…

Does the Senator agree that the criminal justice system is not set up to gather military intelligence?

Does the Senator agree it is good policy to hold and interrogate someone who is helping al-Qaida to find out what they know?

Does he agree with me that in World War II some American citizens agreed to assist the Nazis and were held as enemy combatants?

Does the Senator agree that in past wars American citizens, unfortunately, have collaborated with the enemy?

That is correct, and we have been working on that together for 5 years. To respond, if I may, because I think it is a very good discussion, does the Senator agree with me that under the law that exists today, in terms of the Supreme Court…

Right. What we have done in the Military Commissions Act in 2009, civilians, American citizens cannot be tried in military commissions. It can only go to Federal court. But the point we are trying to make is it has been long held in this…

Yes. The point is---- Mr. McCAIN. Not a civilian trial, not given her Miranda rights, but tried by military tribunal.

I will be glad to yield to my friend from Illinois. Let me just try to set the stage the best I can. And I would love to have Senator Levin weigh in and anyone else. The law, as it exists today, to my good friend from Illinois, has long…

That is correct. Mr. McCAIN. Is it not true that according to that decision, the U.S. Supreme Court, whom we ask to interpret the Constitution of the United States--they have made many interpretations over the years--says there is no bar…

Yes, it is. Mr. McCAIN. So our colleague from Illinois who continues to quote from the Constitution of the United States fails to quote from the specific addressing of this issue by the U.S. Supreme Court, specifically the Hamdan decision…

As I understand the purpose of this amendment, it is basically to have the Congress on record for the concept that once you are determined to be an enemy combatant, a part of the enemy force, there is no requirement to let you go at any…

Does he agree with me that our courts understand that when an American citizen collaborates with an enemy of our Nation, that is an act of war by that citizen against his own country and the law of war applies, not domestic criminal law?

Does my colleague agree with me that makes perfect sense, that an American who helps the Nazis has committed an act of war, not a common crime?

Does the Senator agree with me that our Supreme Court, as recently as about 3 to 4 years ago, affirmed the fact that we can hold our own as enemy combatants when the evidence suggests they have joined forces with the enemy? That is the law?

And the law of war allows the following: trial or detention or both. Is that correct?

What I would like my colleagues to understand is that no German prisoner in World War II had the ability to go to a Federal judge and say: Let me go. If you had brought up the concept in World War II that an American citizen who was…

So if the Department of Defense somehow intercepted information about an al-Qaida cell, let's say in Connecticut or South Carolina, could they be involved in suppressing that cell?

But our military has the ability to defend us against al- Qaida attacks at home, such as they do abroad.

Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the military cannot be used for domestic law enforcement functions. Does the Senator agree with me that tracking al-Qaida operatives--citizen or not--within the United States is not a law enforcement…

Yes. Mr. McCAIN. So we are at war. We have American citizens who are enemy combatants. Yet the Senator from Illinois, in the most bizarre fashion that I have heard, says, therefore, they are guaranteed the protections of--as he said--a…

Does domestic criminal law focus on the wrongdoing of the actor, based on a specific event, when we are trying to resolve a dispute between the wrongdoer and the victim?

Does the Senator agree with me the reason the Supreme Court has recognized that an American citizen could be held as an enemy combatant if they collaborate with an enemy is that the Court views that as an act of war; and under the powers…

Let's imagine a scenario next week where we find an al- Qaida cell exists that is planning a series of attacks against the United States, and within that cell we have some American citizens and we have people who have come here who are…