I was going to say this in class but Matt skipped over me so I'll just write it here. (haha, just kidding Matt, it's all good:)
Anyway, we talked a lot about the MCA and whether or not a majority of Americans would be in favor of this type of legislation. Now, I am biased since I think the legislation is a disgrace but hear me out anyway. I think we should ask ourselves if this type of legislation is even effective. Personally, even if it was effective I would not support it because it infringes on our most basic rights but many people would definitely have no problem with MCA if it worked. The goal of MCA is to catch terrorists before they strike but I get the feeling that it has adverse effects. Namely, it creates more terrorists than it catches. There are many documented stories of innocent people being detained by the government and tortured for a long period of time. After their release they join a terrorist organization even though they were never in one before. Why? Well, if you were caught and tortured by some government agency as a suspected terrorist wouldn't you harbor some negative feelings against the government provided that you were innocent? So in this way the Military Commissions Act is not effective.
And just to clear some confusion up, the bill itself passed 65-34 (12 Dems joined all but one Republican to vote yes) while a provision by Sens. Leahy and Specter to preserve habeas corpus failed 51-48. I was surprised that 12 Democrats would vote yes but since this was only 2 or 3 weeks before the midterm elections, many Democrats did not want to be painted as weak on national security, as they were in 2004. Yes, tricky tactics indeed, but that's just everyday politics in Washington.
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In agreement with Ross’s point claiming that the MCA is actually creating more terrorist than it is preventing, I’ve researched this site
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/guantanamo-bay_detainees.htm , though I do not know who it is funded by it gives obvious information of where, when and who the detainees have been released too. There many not are as many detainees under US military “control” but instead we have shipped them to countries that have less persecution laws than our country. In other countries there are not regulations of torture guidelines so the United States decides to ship the detainees to those other countries. Now, this expansion of hatred towards these detainees that have been captured for “reasons unable to be released to the public” has spread globally; and I have the feeling that their hatred towards those who treat them unfairly has also grown globally. Not only hatred towards America is present, but also those other countries that have helped America by taking detainees from Guantanamo bay. Now we have created a serious problem. These suspected terrorist have grown to not only hate the United States but also all of its allies. Ultimately, the global threat of terrorism has gotten larger because of our military commissions act.
“On August 22, 2005, the Department of Defense announced that it released three detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This detainee movement included the release of one detainee to Yemen, one detainee to Tajikistan, and one detainee to Iran.”
“On March 07, 2005, the Department of Defense announced that it had transferred three detainees from Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), Cuba, to France for prosecution. This transfer increased the number to 211 detainees who had departed GTMO. As a result of the transfer, there were no longer any French citizen held at Guantanamo Bay, from a total of seven French prisoners initially held by the U.S. at the facility.”
“On May 16, 2003, the US Department of Defense announced the release of one detainee from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the transfer of four Saudi detainees for continued detention by the Government of Saudi Arabia, on May 14, 2003; US officials having determined that these detainees either no longer posed a threat to U.S. security or no longer required detention by the United States.”
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