Senate Proceeding on Nov 19th, 2009 :: 6:48:15 to 6:57:35
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6:48:07 to 6:48:27( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from misso mr. consent that quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bond: madam president, our leaders, i believe, are still preparing some of the details, so i will go ahead and i will offer to be interrupted when they're ready. ma written many painful chapters in

6:48:15 to 6:57:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Christopher S. Bond

6:48:28 to 6:48:50( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: america's history. each is sharply engraved in our memories. many involve military conflict, the british burning of waington, the civil war, pearl harbor, iwo jima, pork chop hill, and the bombing of oklahoma city building,

6:48:51 to 6:49:11( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: presidents lincoln and kennedy and mckinley. september 21, 2001, is the latest painful chapter in american history, one that will foreever be burned in our memories as a day of horror unlike any we've experienced before. the sheer mack any tiewd and deliberate evil of the attacks that day defy comprehension.

6:49:12 to 6:49:33( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: who among us will soon forget the research et images of passenger planes used as missiles aimed at worl world trade center tower or people diving out of 74-story windows to avoid being burned. and the heroic and selfless acts of passengers on flight 93 as it

6:49:34 to 6:49:54( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: headed towards the nation's capital. who among us will forget the pictures and the hopeful messages that sprang up around the area when the world trade -- where the world trade center once stood as ratived searched for loved ones. 3,000 people perished that day at the hands of terrorists.

6:49:55 to 6:50:16( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: as the towers fell, their comrades and including khalid sheikh mohammed cheered the devastation. it is these memories that make last week's decision by the obama justice department to give the mastermind of these attacks and his rights and biffs of a -- and benefits of a civilian trial in

6:50:17 to 6:50:37( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: new york city unexplainable and compel me to voice my strong objection t it is an insult to the memories of tho on the one hand september 11, that t perpetrator of these cowardly acts will sit in a courtroom blocks away from ground zero and reap the full benefits and protections of the u.s. constitution. yet even worse than the insult

6:50:38 to 6:50:58( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: to the victims and their families is the dangerous precipice the obama justice department has now crossed with this decision. earlier this year you homeland security issued a change about the nature of the enemy we face. no longer would we call the acts

6:50:59 to 6:51:19( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: of terrorism what they really are: acts of war. instead, according to secretary in a politan know, the terminology for an attack such as 9/11 would be a disaster. apparently, 9/11 was no different than a forest fire started by an arsonist.

6:51:20 to 6:51:41( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: the change in terminology was troubling enough. but trying khalid sheikh mohammed and his associates in civilian court sends a loud signal that this a is comfortable recasting certain ts of terrorism as simply what the attorney general calls -- quote -- "extraordinary crimes." unquote. i have to wonder if the attorney

6:51:42 to 6:52:03( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: general thinks that pearl harbor was an extraordinary crime. yet killing 17 service members aboard of war or the murder of 13

6:52:04 to 6:52:24( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: service members at fort hood justify continued proceedings before the military commissions. this arbitrary distinction makes no sense and shows a disturbing lack of understanding of th nature of war. it also creates a perverse incentive for a terrorist to attack civilians so that they may benefit from our treasured constitutional protections.

6:52:25 to 6:52:46( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: k.s.m. understood the benefits of these protections when, as former c.i.a. director george tenet has said, "k.s.m. told c.i.a. capture 'i'll talk to you guys i have a get to new york and see my lawyer'." he was counting on going to new york, to get the protections of

6:52:47 to 6:53:08( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: our constitution. words are simply words but the mentality that these words represent is dangerously whether it is called a man-caused disaster or extraordinary crime, refusing to treat the september 11 perpetrators as terrorists deserving only of a trial before a military comssion is a dangerous throw had setback to the pre-9/11 mentality that

6:53:09 to 6:53:30( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: resulted in the attack on the u.s. cole, the bombings of our embassy and the first world trade center bombing. ordinarily i support the concept of prosecutorial discretion and the right of the executive branch to bring criminal actions against supported by the facts. but in this instance, this discretion must give way to the larger national security

6:53:31 to 6:53:51( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: interests of our country. in spite of the stated intention of k.s.m. to plead guilty in the military commission, the attorney general has asserted he believes there is a greater chance of success against these 9/11 court. this belief -- one i do not share -- does not justify the enhanced risk to our security

6:53:52 to 6:54:13( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: and the dangerous precedent for the treatment of future terrorists that this trial will bring. that this case will establish a very bad precedent was made clear in the attorney general's testimony in his testimony before the senate judiciary committee when he summarily smissed concerns that the decision to bring 9/11 coconspirators into the federal justice system would preclude an

6:54:14 to 6:54:36( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: intelligence community interrogation of osama bin laden if he were captured. the attorney general refused to say whether bin laden would be given miranda warnings upon capture and claimed the case against him is so overwhelming that there would be no on any statements that he might mick after capture. mr. holder called the concerns

6:54:37 to 6:55:00( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: about not being able to interrogate bin laden a red herring. but, madam president, unfortunately, the attorney attorney general's testimony shows a complete lack of understanding that the purpose interrogations is to stop

6:55:01 to 6:55:21( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: planned attacks and terrorists. it the justice department's national security division, the very people charged with preventing terrorist attacks. in fact those disrupted in new york, illinois, north carolina, seems to have no interest in obtaining valuable intelligence from tblad.

6:55:22 to 6:55:43( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: bin laden. as the leader of al qaeda, bin laden has considerable knowledge of its network, its members, its methods and its potential plots to kill more americans. so what the attorney general calls a red herring i call a red flag. some have hailed the administration's decision as a way to showcase our judicial system for the world.

6:55:44 to 6:56:05( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: but the attorney general has confirmed that in any event k.s.m. or one of his associates is acquitted, he will still be detained indefinitely. are you sure, mr. attorney general, that the court will not order him released? this begs the question: why should we incur the time rs expense, and risk our national security of a show trial if we're just going to detain these

6:56:06 to 6:56:27( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: terrorists forever anyway? rather than showcasing our judicial system, this strange logic seems to make a mock rift civilian judicial system. while the attorney general has declared that failure is not an option, he did not control judicial rulings nor the facts or perceptions that may sway any one of 12 jurors who will decide k.s.m.'s fate.

6:56:28 to 6:56:48( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: a conviction may there are always no guarantees. make no mistake, america is still at war. the war of terror is real. it won't go away just by calling callingit name. we cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand.

6:56:49 to 6:57:09( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: while k.s.m. may be convicted, our success will only be fine l when we've pummeled these terrorists into stings. we may look no further than the terror plots earlier this fall to understand that the threats we faced on september 11 are still very real. for the men and women massacred

6:57:10 to 6:57:32( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: in cold blood at fort hood, the ongoin all too real. the obama administration is standing at a crossroads of history. it can either persist in downplaying the reality that we are at war with terrorists or can reaffirm that its top spriert to keep americans safe by winning this war on terror.

6:57:33 to 6:57:36( Edit History Discussion )

Christopher S. Bond: madam president, i ask that i -- i yield the floor to allow