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Bush signs controversial anti-terrorism law
US President George W Bush on Tuesday signed into law, a controversial bill which in effect allows secret overseas CIA prisons, harsh interrogation practices and military trials as weapons against suspected terrorists.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 October 18, 2006
- Bush called the Military Commissions Act "one of the most important pieces of legislation in the war on terror".
- Image Credit: Reuters
Washington: US President George W Bush on Tuesday signed into law, a controversial bill which in effect allows secret overseas CIA prisons, harsh interrogation practices and military trials as weapons against suspected terrorists.
The bill comes after a Supreme Court ruling in June which found that military tribunals set up to prosecute detainees at
“The bill I sign today helps secure this country, and it sends a clear message: This nation is patient and decent and fair, and we will never back down from the threats to our freedom,'' Bush said at a White House signing ceremony.
The American Civil Liberties Union in a statement called the new legislation “one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history''.
“The president can now — with the approval of Congress — indefinitely hold people without charge, take away protections against horrific abuse and put people on trial based on hearsay evidence,'' ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said.
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