Congressional Mixed Messages

On this day of great accomplishment by the Iraqi people, we're witnessing setbacks here in the US. Not due to losses by the US Military, but because of the acts of Congress. Between the McCain torture amendment pending approval, a potential filibuster of changes to the Patriot Act, combined with no action on illegal immigration, we in the US are going to be less safe going forward.

Whose fault is this? Is it because those in the Senate and Congress in general do not want to cross the media darling that is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)? After all, he's a decorated war hero, who spent years in a Vietnamese prison and tortured repeatedly. He's got first hand experience in being tortured, and yet here he is potentially hamstringing the US into giving terrorists a variety of Constitutional rights - including Due Process, access to the courts, and strangely enough, Miranda Rights. And civilian courts to determine whether the military's actions have gone too far.

That's right folks. Our military may have to declare Miranda rights to terrorists before we capture them. That's what Andy McCarthy warns of. And he knows from what he speaks as he's one of the premier terrorist prosecutors in the US - and was instrumental in the prosecutions of the 1993 WTC bombers. MarkLevinFan notes what life for the terrorists might be like under the McCain language. In fact, he notes what McCarthy really thinks of McCain's bill: it's the al Qaeda Bill of Rights.

While most of the Senate appears to have acceeded to McCain on the torture bill, and potentially gutting the Patriot Act, some aren't letting this go quietly. Sen. John Kyl is vehemently opposed to the chicanery relating to the Patriot Act. It was dealt with in Conference Committee, and yet the Democrats want to scuttle even the watered down version. None in either party can point to a single verifiable example of where an American's rights were infringed or violated by the powers eludicated in the Patriot Act provisions. Yet, that doesn't stop the opponents from claiming that the Patriot Act violates someone's rights. John at Powerline thinks this is the first step to reestablishing a wall between intel and law enforcement.

Stop the ACLU has more on the torture ban. There's no pleasing the Leftists in this country until they've gutted every last bit of national security protections that we have - real or theoretical. And lest we think otherwise, it is quite possible that we've lost opportunities to obtain intel because of constraints imposed since the Abu Ghraib scandal broke.

UPDATE:
Instapundit has a slightly less apocalyptic response to the Patriot Act revisions. More here.