Trying to make themselves look “tough on terrorism” just in time for the November elections the White House and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist want to combine into one bill legislation that would ratify the unconstitutional and unlawful NSA warrantless spying program and the president’s illegal military commissions.
The president is pushing this legislation despite opposition from members of his own party who are concerned about the civil liberties implications of these two separate issues.
Bill Frist’s “Terrorist Tracking, Identification, and Prosecution Act of 2006,” (S. 3886) would combine the Cheney-Specter Bill to allow warrantless spying on Americans with military tribunals legislation that would gut the Geneva Conventions and allow secret evidence to be used to convict detainees held in Guantanamo. Making legislators either vote for or against these issues in one big bill shortcircuits the opportunity for these very important issues to be debated separately with full deliberation about the consequences for America if the law is so radically changed.
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