I believe the President should have all tools necessary to fight terrorism, but the tools must be workable and able to get the job done. I would have opposed the detainee bill passed by the Senate yesterday. We've already wasted five years and not prosecuted one terrorist because President Bush abused power and put an unconstitutional system in place. The bill that passed the senate makes those same mistakes and does not make America safer. I believe it violates the constitution, is at odds with our values, puts our troops in jeopardy, and will lead to further delays in bringing terrorists to justice. It is time for Washington to start learning from the very grave mistakes of the last five years, instead of repeating them. I agree with Secretary Colin Powell who recently said "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk." It's time for us to get this right. Our national security depends on it.

Ned Lamont, the Greenwich Democrat who defeated Lieberman in his party's primary last month, today blasted Lieberman for what he described as succumbing to a political game orchestrated by Bush and the Republicans who control Congress.

"This is all politics, it has nothing to do with fighting a real war on terrorism," Lamont said. "This is the flag-burning amendment of national security. It's just an irrelevant game of politics."

"If I was Bush I would push this, especially with his own National Intelligence Estimate saying that the war in Iraq had made America less secure and with the war inflaming tempers around the world," he added. "With his own intelligence agencies contradicting everything that Bush and Lieberman have said, they have to shore up their defense, so they come up with this."

Lamont also said he would have opposed the bill backed by Lieberman, "because it won't withstand legal scrutiny."

"We haven't brought any of these terrorists to justice in the last three years because it was struck down by the Supreme Court and we're setting ourselves up to make the same mistake again," he said. "The idea that we can detain people who are in this country absolutely legally without rights, it's not American."

“The only reason to worry about the politics of it is if you don’t understand it and don’t have the guts to stand up and defend your vote,” said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, who is considering a presidential race.

posted by tparty at 4:01 PM