This draft legislation responds to the Supreme Court of the United States decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 126 S. Ct. 2749 (2006), by establishing for the first time in our Nation's history a comprehensive statutory structure for military commissions that would allow for the fair and effective prosecution of captured members of al Qaeda and other unlawful enemy combatants. The Act also addresses the Supreme Court's holding that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to the conflict with al Qaeda by providing definitions rooted in United States law for the standards of conduct prescribed by Common Article 3.

The military commission procedures contained in this draft legislation reflect the result of an extended deliberation both within the executive branch and between representatives of my Administration and Members of Congress. The draft legislation would establish a Code of Military Commissions that tracks the courts-martial procedures of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but that departs from those procedures where they would be impracticable or inappropriate for the trial of unlawful enemy combatants captured in the midst of an ongoing armed conflict, under circumstances far different from those typically encountered by military prosecutors.

Five years after the mass murders of 9/11, it is time for the United States to begin to prosecute captured al Qaeda members for the serious crimes that many of them have committed against United States citizens and our allies abroad. As we provide terrorists the justice and due process that they denied their victims, we demonstrate that our Nation remains committed to the rule of law.

• Lawyers for former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma [party profile] told the court hearing his case today that the corruption charges brought against Zuma [JURIST report] were unconstitutional and should be dismissed. Zuma's defense team told the court that the decision of the South African National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) [official website] to reopen investigation into and consideration of corruption charges against Zuma required that the agency contact Zuma and permit him to respond. According to the lawyers, the NPA's lack of contact and Zuma's lack of opportunity to respond represents a constitutional breach of Zuma's rights and that the case has thus been irretrievably biased against Zuma. The NPA and state prosecutor are asking for a postponement to handle the volume of material gathered during their investigation of Zuma, as well as to address issues raised by the appeal of Schabir Shaik, Zuma's former financial advisor, against his criminal conviction [JURIST report]. The Mail & Guardian Online has local coverage.
  
  
• UN Secretary General Kofi Annan [official profile] has warned the Sudanese government that it alone would bear the responsibility for the pending humanitarian crisis in the country's Darfur region [JURIST news archive] if they refuse to permit the African Union (AU) [official website] to hand over control of the current peacekeeping mission to a UN peacekeeping force approved by the Security Council [JURIST report]. Annan's warning was a response to Monday's declaration by Sudanese officials [JURIST report] that if the AU peacekeeping force remained committed to handing over control of the mission, Sudan would require the withdrawal of all AU forces from the region by the end of September. Critics of the Sudanese government allege that officials want time to finish off rebel forces before peacekeepers arrive and that certain Sudanese officials fear the possibility of being tracked down and arrested for prosecution before the International Criminal Court [official website] for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Sudan Tribune has local coverage.
  
  
• Amnesty International [advocacy website] has released a report [text] alleging the Turkish government [Ministry of Foreign Affairs website] has continued to apply its anti-terrorism laws in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights [text, PDF], despite holdings by the European Court on Human Rights (ECHR)[official website] requiring retrials for several individuals in Turkish custody. The report cites continuing criminal cases against individuals arrested as long ago as 1993, as well as the use of evidence obtained through torture in Turkey's Heavy Penal Courts. The report also claims that judges are violating procedural protections meant to ensure a fair trial for defendants and are often sitting in judgment of the same case they presided over prior to the ECHR's ruling requiring new trials. The report comes at a crucial time when the Council of Europe is considering Turkey's human rights record in preparation for potential accession to the European Union. Read the official press release from Amnesty International.

This program has been subject to multiple legal reviews by the Department of Justice and CIA lawyers; they've determined it complied with our laws. This program has received strict oversight by the CIA's Inspector General. A small number of key leaders from both political parties on Capitol Hill were briefed about this program. All those involved in the questioning of the terrorists are carefully chosen and they're screened from a pool of experienced CIA officers. Those selected to conduct the most sensitive questioning had to complete more than 250 additional hours of specialized training before they are allowed to have contact with a captured terrorist.

I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our values. I have not authorized it -- and I will not authorize it. Last year, my administration worked with Senator John McCain, and I signed into law the Detainee Treatment Act, which established the legal standard for treatment of detainees wherever they are held. I support this act. And as we implement this law, our government will continue to use every lawful method to obtain intelligence that can protect innocent people, and stop another attack like the one we experienced on September the 11th, 2001.

The CIA program has detained only a limited number of terrorists at any given time -- and once we've determined that the terrorists held by the CIA have little or no additional intelligence value, many of them have been returned to their home countries for prosecution or detention by their governments. Others have been accused of terrible crimes against the American people, and we have a duty to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice. So we intend to prosecute these men, as appropriate, for their crimes.

The statute criminalizes the intentional falsification of a sender's identity so as to gain access to a service provider's network. Thus, the statute does not prevent anonymous speech, as appellant argues, but prohibits trespassing on private computer networks through intentional misrepresentation, an activity that merits no First Amendment protection.

That anti-spam laws, in general, produce local benefits is unquestionable...[and] Congress, in enacting CAN-SPAM, expressly accorded the States the right to regulate false and misleading e-mail transmissions...any burden to interstate commerce is incidental and clearly not excessive.