President Bush Signs Torture Bill
Olbermann: ‘The president has now succeeded where no one has before’
The death of habeas corpus
On “Countdown†Keith Olbermann examined the Military Commission’s Act of 2006 and what it does to something called habeas corpus.
The following is a transcript of Keith Olbermann’s special report on habeas corpus, as reported on Tuesday, October 10th:
The president has now succeeded where no one has before. He’s managed to kill the writ of habeas corpus. Tonight, a special investigation, how that, in turn, kills nothing less than your Bill of Rights. Because the Mark Foley story began to break on the night of September 28, exploding the following day, many people may not have noticed the bill passed by the Senate that night.
Congress passed the Military Commission’s Act to give Mr. Bush the power to deal effectively with America’s enemiesâ€â€those who seek to harm the country. He has been very clear on who he thinks that is.
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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America.
That fact that we’re discussing this program is helping the enemy.
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OLBERMANN: So, the president said it was urgent that Congress send him this bill as quickly as possible, not for the politics of next month’s elections, but for America.
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BUSH: The need for this legislation is urgent. We need to insure that those questioning terrorists can continue to do everything within the limits of the law to get information that can save American lives. My administration will continue to work with the Congress to get this legislation enacted, but time is of the essence. Congress is in session just for a few more weeks and passing this legislation ought to be the top priority.
The families of those murdered that day have waited patiently for justice. Some of the families of with us today, they should have to wait no longer.
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OLBERMANN: Because time was of the essence and to insure that the 9/11 families would wait no longer, as soon as he got the bill, the president whipped out his pen and immediately signed a statement saying he looks forward to signing the actual law eventually.
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