Al Qaeda Bill of Rights I Rejected!

In a terribly narrow 51-48-1 vote, the Senate rejected Item I of the Al Qaeda Bill of Rights, an Amendment by Arlen Specter (R PA) which would have given the right to a writ of habeas corpus to the terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay. Briefly, habeas corpus provides that no prisoner can be held without charges being pressed. The prisoners at Guantanamo are not common criminals; they are rather enemy combatants and 315 of them have already been released due to insufficient evidence. Somehow, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International cannot bring themselves to report that some of them have been released. (At least 12 of those 315 have rejoined the terrorists on the battlefield in Afghanistan.) Enemy combatants and POWs have traditionally been imprisoned without the necessity of charges until the end of hostilities.
On Item I of the Al Qaeda Bill of Rights, every Democrat in the Senate except Nelson (D NE), voted Yea. Other supporters include Jeffords (I VT) and Chafee (R RI) who always vote with the Left, and three actual Republicans, Specter (R PA), Smith (R OR), and Sununu (R NH) also support more legal rights for terrorists. Olympia Snowe (R ME) sat on her hands. A few words of praise are due the moderate Republicans, Susan Collins, Chuck Hagel, Lindsey Graham and John McCain, for their refusal to stab the President in the back. The back-handed tone of that compliment to them is highly intentional.
After the failure of the Specter Amendment, the Senate voted 65-34-1 in favor of the Military Tribunals program for the Guantanamo terrorists. I don't write this often, but we've seen a productive last few days in the Senate.