From the October 2006 Idaho Observer:

Bush, Congress suspend habeas corpus to "save American lives"

WASHINGTON, D.C.—"Welcome to the White House on an historic day. It is a rare occasion when a President can sign a bill he knows will save American lives. I have that privilege this morning," President Bush stated moments before signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 into law.

See Hari Heath’s detailed analysis of the bill on pages 18-19. This Act, which sailed through the House and Senate in record time, is not about saving lives. This Act suspends habeas corpus, authorizes military commissions to form anytime, anyplace and anywhere (in the world) to serve as judge, jury and executioner for anyone military commissioners suspect may be an unlawful enemy combatant and provides ex post facto immunity for terror war interrogators/jailors who cruelly and/or unusually abused detainees during the period beginning Sept. 11, 2001 to October 17, 2006, when Bush signed the Act into law.

The president continued his pre-signing statement: "The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is one of the most important pieces of legislation in the war on terror. This bill will allow the Central Intelligence Agency to continue its program for questioning key terrorist leaders and operatives like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man believed to be the mastermind of the September the 11th, 2001 attacks on our country. This program has been one of the most successful intelligence efforts in American history. It has helped prevent attacks on our country. And the bill I sign today will ensure that we can continue using this vital tool to protect the American people for years to come. The Military Commissions Act will also allow us to prosecute captured terrorists for war crimes through a full and fair trial."

The entire paragraph above is a series of lies based upon what we know to be true about 9/11 and what is revealed to those who actually read the 43-page Military Commission Act.

With the forgoing in mind and with the understanding that members of the cabinet and Congress are already so compromised by their complicity in post-9/11 policies or immobilized by fear that details of their personal lives may become national news, here is the summation of the House and Senate votes for the Military Commission Act of 2006:

Senate—S. 3930

Introduced Sept. 22, 2006

Amended Sept. 27, 2006

Passed (65-34-1) Sept. 28, 2006, 6:37 p.m.

All Republicans with the exception of Chafee (R-RI) voted "yea"; Snowe (R-ME) did not vote.

All Democrats voted "nay" with the exception of Pryor (D-AR), Salazar (D-CO), Carper (D-DE), Nelson (D-FL), Landrieu (D-LA), Stabenow (D-MI), Nelson (D-NE), Johnson (D-SD) and Rockefeller (D-WV).

The minimum vote required for passage was one-half.

House—H.R. 6166

Introduced Sept. 28, 2006, 7:28 p.m.

Passed (253-168-12) Sept. 29, 2006

In the House, 34 Democrats and 218 Republicans voted "aye"; 160 Democrats and 7 Republicans voted "nay." The one Independent (William Sherwood, PA) voted nay and there were seven Democrats and five Republicans absent respectively.

The minimum vote required for passage was one-half.

Note: There are discrepancies between records on the exact legislative tracking between the Senate vote and intro into the House. All records reveal, however, that the track was fast.