The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is pretty widely regarded as a disaster by progressives and moderate Democrats. And I believe the Congress can and should repeal it.
But they need political cover to do it...
Even with control of both chambers, the Democrats simply don't have the votes to repeal the torture bill.
Thirteen of the 51 senators in the new Democratic Senate majority voted in favor of the torture bill. And 29 of the 229 Democrats in decided races also voted in favor. I've given all the stats in: http://www.dailykos.com/...
Which means, without some political cover for switching their votes, the MCA would pass a floor vote again. In fact, it couldn't even be filibustered.
That's pretty sad.
But frankly I think that several Senators from both parties voted for this bill strictly for crass political reasons to avoid the Rove smears about "soft on terror." These opportunists without any moral compass simply need a change in public opinion along with a good cover story about how they were "misled" into voting for torture.
It should be possible for Democrats to use their subpoena power to drive this change in public opinion and provide cover for the wayward members of the caucus to cast a vote in favor of repeal.
In particular, subpoena documents from the VP's office, AG Gonzales, John Yoo, and Rumsfeld's office.
We need three critical statements about the Administration's interpretation of the MCA2006 law:
- the president can declare US citizens as enemy combatants at the sole discretion of the president
- enemy combatants can be subjected to simulated drowning as an alternative interogation technique
- confessions obtained via an alternative interrogations technique can be used as evidence in a capital case against enemy combatants
Using these statements (which I'm sure can be culled from various Adminstration memos about the MCA) we can beat the drum that the President thinks he can detain, torture, and ultimately execute any US citizen he desires.
"Clearly" the congress was "misled" about the intentions of the president with regards to using the MCA. That gives the opportunists and crass political operatives cover to switch their votes and support repeal.
So which member of Congress do I ask to subpoena the appropriate documents and look for the appropriate statements by the administration?