[House Document 109-133]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




 
109th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 109-133

         PROPOSED LEGISLATION: MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006


                               __________


                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

A DRAFT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION ENTITLED THE ``MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT 
                               OF 2006''.





  September 7, 2006.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
    Committees on Armed Services, the Judiciary, and International 
                  Relations and ordered to be printed
To the Congress of the United States:
    I transmit for the consideration of the Congress draft 
legislation entitled the ``Military Commissions Act of 2006.'' 
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.
    I ask that the Congress carefully consider this legislation 
and respectfully urge its speedy passage for enactment into 
law.

                                                    George W. Bush.
    The White House, September 6, 2006.