[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 162 (Wednesday, November 28, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    MILITARY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 28, 2001

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my concern about the 
military order of the President issued on November 13, 2001 and titled 
``Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War 
Against Terrorism.''
  Under this military order the President declared an ``extraordinary 
emergency'' that enables him to order military tribunals for suspected 
international terrorists and their collaborators, bypassing the 
American criminal justice system, its rules of evidence and its 
constitutional guarantees.
  The creation of military tribunals would permit secret arrests, 
secret charges using secret evidence, secret prosecutions, secret 
witnesses, secret trials, secret convictions, secret sentencing, and 
even secret executions. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution 
establishes that ``No person shall * * * be deprived of life, liberty, 
or property, without due process of law.'' It is therefore a matter of 
protecting our Constitutional rights that defendants in terrorism cases 
receive full due process under the law.
  Furthermore, failure to subject suspected terrorists to the 
Constitutionally-based American system of justice will cause America to 
lose moral standing in the world. For years the State Department has 
strongly opposed the use of secret courts in countries such as Russia, 
China, Egypt, Peru--and Columbia. Just this summer China held secret 
trials of several US based scholars on espionage charges. One of the 
scholars was a U.S. citizen and another two were U.S. permanent 
residents. We demand full due process for Americans charged with a 
crime in a foreign country and we should not set a different standard 
for our non-citizens.
  Just days ago Spain announced that it will not extradite eight men 
charged with complicity in the Sept. 11th attacks unless the United 
States agrees to try the suspects by a civilian court and not by a 
military tribunal. According to an article in the New York Times on 
Nov. 24, 2001, ``A senior European Union official * * * said he doubted 
that any of the 15 nations--all of which have renounced the death 
penalty and signed the European Convention on Human Rights--would agree 
to extradition that involved the possibility of a military trial.
  Noted conservative columnist, William Safire, put to rest the 
erroneous argument that the establishment of military tribunals was 
consistent with military justice. According to Safire, ``Military 
attorneys are silently seething * * * The Uniform Code of Military 
Justice demands a public trial, proof beyond reasonable doubt, an 
accused's voice in the selection of juries and the right to choose 
counsel, unanimity in death sentencing and above all appellate review 
by civilians confirmed by the Senate. Not one of these fundamental 
rights can be found in (the Administration's) military order setting up 
kangaroo courts for people he designates before ``trial'' to be 
terrorists.''
  We can not, and should not, let the actions of terrorists cause us to 
degrade our American system of justice.

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