STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN AMENDMENT TO PROHIBIT USE OF FUNDS FOR PROSECUTION IN ARTICLE III COURTS OF 9/11 TERRORIST SUSPECTS
November 5, 2009
“Mr. President, I rise in strong support of the amendment offered by Senator Graham, which I am pleased to co-sponsor along with Senator Lieberman and Senator Webb, to prohibit funds appropriated to the Department of Justice (DoJ) from being used to prosecute terrorist suspects involved in the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, in the Article III courts of the United States.
“When the attacks of 9/11 occurred eight years ago, and nearly 3,000 innocent civilians lost their lives in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, this country faced the sort of brutal attack on our homeland the likes of which we had not seen since December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor.
“Not only was our nation’s seat of financial power attacked in New York, and our seat of military power attacked at the Pentagon, but for the incredible bravery and heroic resolve of everyday citizens in the skies over Pennsylvania, the attacks would have included our seat of government in Washington, DC. Thankfully, we will never know whether the White House or the Congress would have been the final target left a smoking ruin that day.
“These vicious and despicable acts were not ordinary crimes carried out by individual terrorists in isolated incidents. These were carefully planned and orchestrated mass attacks by Al-Qaeda calculated to bring war to our doorstep as an opening move aimed at reducing the influence of the United States worldwide with the eventual goal of establishing a radical version of Islamic fundamentalism based in Afghanistan with an international reach into every corner of the globe.
“In short, this was an act of war against the United States carried out not on some distant shore, but in our communities on the very symbols of our national power. Because it involved attacks on innocent civilians and innocent civilian targets, it is a war crime. It is important that we call things what they are, and not gloss over the essence of these events even though they occurred eight years ago.
“In response to the attacks, the Congress quickly and overwhelmingly passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force giving the President the authority to ‘use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001….’ The Senate passed this legislation unanimously.
“The Authorization for Use of Military Force recognized the true nature of these attacks and committed the entire resources of the United States to our self-defense in light of the grave threat to our national security and foreign policy. The United States does not go to war over a mere domestic criminal act, nor should it. It was clearly understood at the time that far more was at stake. We sent our sons and daughters off to war where they have been bravely risking their lives and futures on our behalf for the last eight years.
“Given the facts and history of the 9/11 attacks, we should not deal with the treachery and barbarism of the slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians as a matter of law enforcement in the ordinary sense. To do so would belittle the events that transpired, the symbolism and purpose of the attacks, the huge number of lives that were lost, and the threat posed to the United States – which continues in the caves and sanctuaries of Al-Qaeda to this day.
“During my life I have been a warrior, although that seems a long time ago now. I have some experience in the reality of combat and the suffering it brings. I know something of the law of war, having fought constrained by it, and having lived through – with the help of my comrades and my faith – times when my former enemy felt unconstrained by it.
“No, the attacks of 9/11 were not a crime. They were a war crime. Together with my colleagues in Congress, I have worked closely with the President to provide a means to address war crimes committed against this country in a war crimes tribunal – the Military Commissions Act of 2009. It was designed specifically for this purpose. It should be used – not to mete out a guilty verdict and sentence that could not be achieved in Federal criminal court – but to call things what they are, to be unshakable in our resolve to respond to the unprecedented attacks of 9/11 consistent with the Authorization for Use of Military Force, and to tell this and any future enemy that when they attack our innocent civilians at home, we will not be sending the police after them to make an arrest.
“By denying funds to the Department of Justice to prosecute these horrendous crimes in Article III courts, I do not mean that these outrages against our country and its citizens should go unpunished. In fact, I have long argued that justice in these cases was long overdue and that prosecutions should be pursued as expeditiously as possible.
“Rather, my support for this amendment is based on my unshakable view that these events were acts of war and war crimes and that the proper forum for bringing the war criminals to justice is a military tribunal consistent with longstanding traditions in this country that date back to George Washington’s Continental Army during the founding of the Republic.
“For that reason, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment so that the prosecutions of war crimes will take place in the traditional and long-accepted forum of a military tribunal, as the Congress overwhelmingly enacted in 2006 and which the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 amended and improved in a statute that was enacted into law by President Obama just days ago on October 28, 2009.”
