[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17335]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            FIVE YEARS LATE

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, after 5 years the President who ignored 
the memo that bin Laden wanted to attack the United States is belatedly 
taking steps to bring to trial suspected terrorists. Why the sudden 
change of heart? Well, the public is fed up with the bungling, the 
secret prisons and torture. The Supreme Court has ruled that the 
administration's approach was unconstitutional. All of this has created 
a political tide that has forced the President's hand.
  But now is the time for the Congress, which has been asleep at the 
switch allowing the administration's despicable excesses, to do its 
job. Instead of rubber stamping the administration's flawed and belated 
proposal, Congress should do what it should have done in the first 
place: Ensure that justice is done, the enemies of the United States 
are punished, and America's tarnished image of justice is restored.

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