[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 108 (Wednesday, September 6, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H6273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006--MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE 
                  UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 109-133)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services, Committee on the Judiciary, and Committee 
on 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.

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