Sen. Lindsey Graham Has No Credibility on Gitmo, Terror Trials

March 16, 2010  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

After describing in detail many of Sen. Lindsey Graham's failures on Guantanamo Bay and his unwavering support for military commissions -- even after they were found to be unconstitutional and fraught with problems -- Human Rights First's Daphne Eviatar begins to question why anyone would even entertain Graham's thoughts on the issue.

From Huffington Post:

Graham is now also making a far more sweeping attempt to undermine suspected terrorists' right to a civilian trial. Senator Graham is reportedly trying to broker a deal with the White House and his Senate colleagues to get them to pass a new law authorizing indefinite detention without trial of terror suspects on U.S. soil. In return, Graham claims, he will deliver Republican support for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

Graham doesn't seem to have much support for his proposal from either side of the aisle, with objections on both legal and practical grounds.

"There is a law already on indefinite detention," Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, (D-MI), told Congressional Quarterly. "It's called the Geneva Convention."

Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said "I don't think there's any need for a new statute," adding that it "confuses the issue to suggest that we don't have that authority now."

That hasn't stopped Senator Graham from promising the White House once again something he appears wholly unable to deliver.

The question is whether anyone will fall for it this time around.

Read more here.

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