Bush signs Military Commissions Act of 2006. It was essentially rubber stamped in the Senate and the House by Republicans and a very few Democrats.
What a dark day for the US.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the new law "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, put people on trial based on hearsay evidence, authorise trials that can sentence people to death based on testimony literally beaten out of witnesses and slam shut the courthouse door for habeas petitions," ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20601587-1702,00.html
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061018/NEWS07/610180405
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/opinion/19thu1.html