    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [September 6, 2006]
    [Pages 1620-1621]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Congress Transmitting Draft Legislation on Military
    Commissions
    September 6, 2006

    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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