Graham Hails Levin For Supporting New Detainee Rules

By Tim Young

During a press briefing Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) applauded Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, for supporting new policies dictating the way that some detainees are treated.

“Carl is doing something very difficult- he is standing up provisions that he helped author, that he believes are balanced and makes this country safer against his own administration’s objection,” said Graham.

Under the new provisions, there will be a presumption of military custody specifically for cases of individuals related to Al-Queda and related organizations engaged in a hostile act on US soil.  In the past, there have been no clear rules set as to how these individuals are treated and therefore they have been given the rights of a detainee in a non-military situation.

Graham, an Air Force JAG officer, argued that the law in its current form creates a difficult double-standard, wherein terror suspects apprehended overseas are subjected to widely different legal treatment than those arrested on American soil.

“America’s about to become a safer place,” Graham said of the new provisions.