The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • The leadership the nation needs

    SIR: There is no gainsaying that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is facing difficult times, ditto the states governors. The truth however must be told, that Nigerians are expecting no less than purposeful, resourceful, Godly, leadership. One is deeply surprised that since May 29, Nigeria’s development continues to be hampered by bad leadership, moral decadence, hunger, poverty, insecurity and corruption. Our leaders tell lies under oath, mouth deceitful words, make promises and break them.

    What Nigerians need now is a good and God-fearing leader who will work hard in raising the standard of living of the people, transform the society, enact policies that will give Nigerians a sense of oneness.

    Some of the challenges of national integration and development in Nigeria include the economic crisis and poverty, unequal development, crisis of governance and poor political leadership.

    Nigeria has very big potentials to become one of the most powerful countries in the world, and for it to occupy such position, it must transform its system, integrate the people, grow the economy and fight poverty and hunger.

    Nigerians and the leaders should also allow God to direct the affairs of their governance. Nigerians and the rulers should be full of prayers to empower President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle the raging socio-economic and political problems facing the nation.

    The President needs to urgently tackle energy problem, revive industries, encourage entrepreneurs, create mass emoployment for the youth; he needs to pay closer attention to the security situation, tackle corruption seriously, adhere to the tenets of the rule of law, improve infrastructural facilities. He may need to convoke prayer summits at all levels of government.

    Nigerians must together create the atmosphere of trust, transparency, honesty and accountability otherwise she will remain where she is. We have to harness the God-given gifts of nature around us to make the country great. Our leaders have to learn and start taking decisions on what is best for the country rather than their self-serving interests. Unless and until we address the challenge of leadership, the country can never move forward.

    Religious leaders in the country should not feel shy to address issue of bad leadership and also make their voices heard.

    • Prophet Oladipupo Funmilade-Joel (Sekunderin),

    Lagos.

  • Adoke confirms our worst fears

    Adoke confirms our worst fears

    The police had sneered at the figures before. They will sneer even more violently again, notwithstanding the fact that those figures were reiterated by Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. Delivering a keynote address at a “national dialogue on torture, extra-judicial killings and national security” organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Abuja, Adoke quoted a report by the Network on Police Reform indicating that some 7,198 people had been killed by policemen in four years. He added that about 2,500 of the victims were detainees. The minister also suggested that the police had relied on Police Force Order 237, which allows the police to shoot any suspect or detainee trying to escape or avoid arrest, to carry out some of these questionable killings. However, he did not suggest that all the deaths were as a result of extra-judicial killings, though he thought police methods were forcing a rethink of the criminal justice system to take away the power of prosecution from the police. His conclusion was damning. Said he: “Although these figures have been stoutly disputed by the police, even the most charitable defenders of the Force cannot deny that some dishonourable officers indeed have taken the law into their hands in the most barbaric fashion by killing suspects and innocent citizens.”

    Coincidentally, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was also on the same day and place worrying about extra-judicial killings, which it said were dehumanising Nigerians. The NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN), put it even more pithily than the Justice minister. Said he at a roundtable organised to mark the 2012 International Human Rights Day: “When rights are serially violated, the people are apprehensive, nervous and unsure of their humanity.” No statement can be more disapproving of the law enforcement agencies’ methods. With the Justice minister associating himself very strongly with the conclusion that police malfeasance is well known and on the rise, and the NBA focusing attention on the menace undermining the criminal justice system, perhaps there is hope that the will to do something about lawless law enforcement would be summoned. The police may dispute the allegations of extra-judicial killings levelled against them as much as they like, but the truth is that it is widely known to be their culture. And no one can doubt that it was a factor in the radicalisation of the Boko Haram Islamic militants.

    Rather than continue to pretend that the problem does not exist, or needlessly debate the scale, the police should do an honest introspection if they want to become the law enforcement agency of their, and dare we say, our, dream. The Justice minister should be encouraged to work more assiduously at transferring the responsibility of prosecution of suspects to the Justice ministry. It is a step in the right direction. The notorious Police Force Order 237 should also be reformed in line with modern and civilised standards of policing. But it is not enough to reform the system and establish police rules of engagement that do not affront our humanity; it is also important that allegations of extra-judicial killings must be investigated and culprits brought to book. As the Boko Haram terror is showing, it is impossible for any society, let alone an errant Police Force, to make progress and achieve stability on the foundations of so much injustice and unfairness. As the NBA president succinctly puts it, “Denying cases of extra-judicial executions and unlawful detentions in the face of overwhelming evidence can only diminish our prestige and respect in the comity of nations.”

     

  • There are forces against Nigeria’s reform

    There are forces against Nigeria’s reform

    SIR: The nation’s budget for year 2012 is largely oil-dependent to the tune of about N5 trillion despite the fact that India is expecting, for the same period, $70 billion (N10.5 trillion) from software exports alone.

    Perhaps we need to remind ourselves of where both India and Nigeria are coming from. In the 1980s, when the Delta Steel Company (DSC) was being built by a consortium of foreign companies, Mecon of India was serving as consultants to DSC. Mecon seconded many of its experienced engineers to DSC, who were helping to groom their Nigerian counterparts.

    While these highly experienced expatriate Indians were chauffeur-driven in brand new air-conditioned, official Peugeot cars, people in DSC were usually surprised to hear of how some of them were receiving letters from their home office, informing them of the approval of their motorcycle loans!

    This was at a time fresh Nigerian graduates looked forward to buying new cars after just a few years of working. This was before our present addiction for“tokunbo” products.

    India has since transformed into one of the sensational economies including Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) while Nigeria is retrogressing deeper into poverty, which according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has worsened from 54.7 in2004 to 61.9 in2011. Our state governors are busy bickering over statutory allocation, while their counterparts across the world are aggressively harvesting the infinite opportunities created by globalisation. While we remain on revenue allocation, the world is moving in the direction of technological creativity.

    The real tragedy is that even with the pitiable state of our nation, our entrenched interests are still fighting viciously to ensure that nothing changed. More tragic is the fact that they are using the rest of us, to bring down anybody that tries to change things! We are helping our entrenched interests to ensure that nothing changes, and to deal with each officeholder that refuses to toe their line.

    The Goldman Sachs’ research report for 2007 listed Nigeria among its ‘Next 11’group of countries expected to catch up to the fastest developing BRIC economies.

    That reform might even have been most providential, considering what could have become of the Nigerian economy if the global meltdown that soon followed had met us with a financial sector driven by fragile, under-capitalised banks!

    Similarly, the all-important Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which had clearly forgotten the destination of the 12-year journey it started since 2000 with President Obasanjo’s Oil & Gas Reform Implementation Committee (OGIC), is now suddenly contemplating reality! This means that all those years of regulatory uncertainty, blocking billions of dollars of oil-sector investments, are coming to an end. Again, for the first time in our petroleum history, we now have a “Nigerian Content Development Act”, which has transformed the capacity for local participation in the sector.

    • Gabriel Zowam,

    Reform & Process Improvement Expert.

  • Re: Okada and Fashola-phenomenon

    Re: Okada and Fashola-phenomenon

    SIR: The above entitled article by Mobolaji Sanusi published in The Nation of November 16, 2012 captures my mind on this subject matter. How on earth will Lagos be turned into the dumping ground of inexperienced, stubborn, criminal-minded set of people from all over the place under the guise of okada riding as a business? Fashola has done well with this restriction. Is it sensible for okadas to be contesting the right of way with cars, lorries/trucks on the third mainland bridge for example? This was the scenario before the law, and it will be wrong for the government of Eko to fold its arms watching the ugly trend.

    Without mentioning names, total ban/restriction had taken places in some other states without the “political noise” being heaped on Fashola. Why is the Lagos case different? To draw the attention of the state government to the fact that some unrepentant Okada riders are still waiting at Ikeja-along in the evenings in total disregard of the law to ply their nefarious trade shows that they must be tackled without further delay. Okadas/Tricycles operators must go to the street corners and other unrestricted routes to ply their trade and show respect for the laws of the land. To PDP and other anti-progress elements in Lagos, the downfall and campaign of calumny against Fashola on this move will never succeed. Order is the first law in heaven, and it must be, here on earth.

    The only constant thing in life is CHANGE. The change has come and it must be embraced. The mission to reclaim Lagos and bring back its old glory is a task that must be imbibed by all. On Okada restriction, I stand!

    • Tunde Awe,

    Maersk Line, Lagos.

  • Legal practitioners must emulate Justice Eso

    Legal practitioners must emulate Justice Eso

    SIR: The exit of Justice Kayode Eso will certainly remain indelible in our annals for many years to come. The legal profession will continue to miss the erudite jurist, extremely intelligent arbiter of uncommon order and frontline apostle of judicial activism in Nigeria.

    Justice Eso, no doubt, is one of the few, who are destined to right societal wrongs and look oppressors in the face. The fearless Judge was highly revered, not only for his uprightness or Solomonic wisdom, but for his uncompromising stance when it comes to issues of truth and declaration of verdict without any fear or favour.

    Kayode Eso’s name is incontrovertibly synonymous with an incorruptible and courageous judiciary. The man Eso is undoubtedly a blessing to the nation’s Judiciary. He was one of the few judges, Nigeria is lucky to have produced, that held tenaciously to the principles of “Nemini Negada est” (Justice should be denied to no man). As a judge the late Eso believed not in the judgments, but in justice, not only for both parties but also for the society. Eso, as a Judge, right from the lower court to apex court, was like fire that respects its lighter. To him, it is “fiat justitia enruant coelium” (let justice be done even though the heavens fall).

    He was one of the few judges who believed and displayed it obviously to all and sundry, the lordship and independence of judiciary over the two arms of the government, by refusing to bend for pressure or pacification from any quarters or anybody, no matter his rank or fortune. He was a die-hard student in the school of legal thought that “judex habere debet dous sales salem sapientiae, nesit inspidus est salem conscietiae no sit diabolus,” which means that a judge should have two salts; the salt of wisdom, lest he becomes insipid and the salt of conscience, lest he be devilish. And no wonder, he passionately displayed this in many cases that were before him, To mention a few: Fawehinmi V Akilu and ors; Awolowo V Shagari; Omoboriowo V A.G Federation, Ajasin V Omoboriowo; Nwodo V Onoh; State v Wole Soyinka etc.

    As a matter of fact, Eso, a born mediator and a reputably stainless Judge, will be difficult to replace, especially in this era of charlatanisms and favouritisms, when some men in gown, have turned Judiciary to an appendage of executive arm and annex of legislature; when cowards are now seen dominating the positions meant for the courageous. Our longing to have the likes of Eso is a must.

    The passage of Justice Kayode Eso to the great beyond is not only a call for eulogies and encomium, and is not only a call for celebration or adulation, but it’s a call for us to live worthy lives and examine our lives. What do we want people to say after we have stopped breathing? We must think deeply, whether we want praises like the ones being showered on Eso or people’s reactions to the demise of Sani Abacha.

    To the men of the bench who are Eso’s colleagues, the greatest sympathy you can show is to literally put on his gown and his wigs, for in there lay honour, courage and praises. And as corruption is daily eating deeper into Nigerian fabric and escalating in an unprecedented proportion, the nation’s judiciary is highly in need of upright, godly and lion-hearted judges, like Kayode Eso.

    I can hear the voice of this departed man of honour and value, urging and warning our judges to strive for excellence in their acts of adjudication or mediation; that the judiciary should not look as executive arm is looking; that the judiciary should not reason as legislature is reason. Oh, I heard him loud and clear, urging Nigerian judiciary to stand firm and be courageous.

    Justice Kayode Eso, in his message, prefers to be emulated rather than to be celebrated. He wants his principles and ideals cherished and not himself and he wants the judiciary to shelve encomiums and instead to stand for what he stood for. May he rest in perfect peace.

     

    • Bello Destiny Paul,

    Ondo State.

  • On Sanusi, government and job creation

    On Sanusi, government and job creation

    SIR:The recent call by the Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi on the Federal government to lay off 50 percent of workers is thoughtless, callous, and perfidious. After he was rained curses by Nigerians and further upbraided by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), he now claims he was quoted out of context. But the fact remains he was quoted verbatim. And the harm is already done. This is not the first time Sanusi has stirred up a hornet’s nest. Not long ago, Sanusi with his characteristic knack for fantasy suddenly dreamt of making our highest money denomination N5, 000. It took President Jonathan’s intervention to stop him.

    Sanusi’s excesses are getting too much. He may have voiced his personal opinion, but he must remember that his position is a sensitive one, and that he embarrasses President Jonathan and what ever his government stands for, when ever he makes unguarded statements especially with regards to the president’s social contract with the people. The President should caution him.

    One is sure many Nigerian government workers must have had their blood pressure hitting the top on hearing Sanusi’s comment. And that is why it is soothing to know that the government through the Labour Minister Chukwuemeka Wogu, has immediately spurned Sanusi’s statement,

    Re-assuring Nigerians that instead of sacking, government will even create more job opportunities.

    The Labour Minister, in dispelling Sanusi’s statement said “Government owes the society an enabling environment to create job opportunities and the president’s desire is to create more jobs and not retrenchment.”

    One of the things often said when it comes to jobs is that government does not create jobs, but only lays the enabling environment for jobs to be created. If workers are sacked, what happens to their dependents? Sanusi should answer this question. It is easier to destroy than to build.

    Government jobs are very critical to education, health and many other areas the private organizations cannot provide. Government jobs also help boost the private sector because when those who are employed by government have money to spend on goods and services provided by the private sector, it keeps the private sector in business, and helps boost the economy.

    The primary role of public sector workers is to provide service to all for the public good, and profit is certainly not its motive. It is through the public sector that the dividends of democracy can be provided, nothing more, nothing less.

    The public sector and the private sector should exist side by side as they both have their unique roles to play in the society. Government must also spend money to make sure certain jobs remain with it to keep them from being taken over by profit seekers who only serve the benefit of the owners and investors. Those against big government must also know that they may be inadvertently helping Sanusi beat his drum of misery. Government should instead provide a level playing field for all Nigerians.

    Sanusi has a government job, and so do President Jonathan, the governors, and lawmakers; and they may still be looking forward to keep these jobs beyond 2015. Other Nigerians should be allowed to keep theirs.

    • Dr Odoemena, Medical

    Practitioner, Lagos

  • Did Babangida lie against Saraki?

    Did Babangida lie against Saraki?

    SIR: I commiserate with the family of Senator Olusola Saraki, and the numerous beneficiaries of his political generousity. The Yoruba say that once dead, a person becomes an idol (a faultless person). Since his demise on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, Saraki has been variously eulogized for his political sagacity and philanthropy. I both agree and disagree, because every human being is both good and bad. Sometimes, human beings rob poor Peter to pay rich Paul; some other times, they do good and later regret.

    The praise-singer who caught my fancy more than any other person was General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), who said he learnt a lot about politics from the late Pa Saraki. I could not help asking myself whether the notes IBB took from Pa Saraki informed the political dribbling (deception) that earned him the appellation, “Maradona”.

    As Nigeria’s military “President”, IBB raised and dashed the hopes of many politicians with his numerous transition agenda, which he would start and truncate mid-way. Incalculable number of politicians died of frustration, and many others became impoverished from indebtedness and loss of jobs. Finally, IBB annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election, and was forced by national and international pressures to quit the seat of power by all means.

    For eight years, IBB ruled Nigeria, full of tension and financial crimes called”419″. He undid General Muhammadu Buhari’s War Against Indiscipline (WAI), and return the country to the Shehu Shagari’s corrupt era. His (IBB’s) own regime specifically marked the emergence of numerous fake banks which drained too many Nigerians of their hard-earned monies. Today, fake banks hardly exist, but the same imperialists are still holding the country to ransom. Hence drastic drop in electricity coupled with fuel scarcity deepen the nation’s mass misery. Unfortunately, we still have Nigerians who keep praising President Goodluck Jonathan. Farouk Lawan is back in the House of Representatives, as if bribery and corruption were virtues. Children of the rulers front for their fathers in the petroleum misappropriation business, etc.

    Ghana is better run today because of Jerry Rawlings’ revolutionary initiative. All misappropriators of public funds should be decapitated as in the French Revolution, and as obtains in China currently. The living and the dead imperialist-paternalists are responsible for Nigeria’s under-development and mass poverty.

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D, University of Ilorin.

     

  • Now, kidnappers hit close to home

    Now, kidnappers hit close to home

    Sooner or later, kidnappers were expected to do something more daring than the usual snatching of wealthy Nigerians for a few negotiated millions of naira. Like drug barons, pool betters and lottery maniacs, the urge by kidnappers for a big jackpot had always been irresistible. Finally, on Sunday, our worst nightmare came to pass when Professor Kamene Okonjo, 82, mother of the Finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was kidnapped in broad daylight. She was reportedly seized in front of her home by a gang of armed men. In a brazen display of disrespect for traditional institutions, the kidnapping even took place at the palace of her husband, Obi Chukwuka Okonjo Agbogidi, a retired professor of economics, and traditional ruler of the Ogwashi-Uku kingdom in Delta State. The trauma can best be imagined.

    A few theories have been suggested as motivating what is probably the most high profile kidnapping ever in Nigeria. The police are refusing to be drawn into speculations, preferring for now to assume it is nothing but a clear case of kidnapping. A few others think it was politically motivated, but they have not been forthcoming on what sort of politics could have motivated the crime. Yet others believe the crime could have been motivated by the minister’s reported delay of subsidy payments to some oil importers having trouble verifying their payments. All these theories are, however, far-fetched. It is unlikely oil importers would take the extraordinary step of kidnapping the minister’s mum to pressure her. Surely, at a point they would have been forced to disclose their reasons, and invariably become suspects. After all, frustrated fuel importers are known.

    The police have more sensibly restricted themselves to the theory of kidnapping for ransom. But given the sheer weight of law enforcement logistics that are being deployed to free Mrs Okonjo, it is not known whether the kidnappers would have the courage to name a price. If they do, the elderly woman would doubtless be worth a pretty penny, far beyond what anyone has heard so far, and so costly that it would be hard to see the kidnappers retiring safely to their lair to enjoy the loot. Indeed, going by the nearness of this incident to President Goodluck Jonathan, and considering that Okonjo-Iweala is one of his most influential ministers, it would be a surprise if the kidnappers make a success of this audacious caper. The presidency would already be feeling embarrassed, frustrated and incensed. For a government’s reputation, some things, such as this latest kidnapping, had better not happen.

    When it began in the days of the Niger Delta struggles, kidnapping was essentially targeted at foreign oil workers. Then the target became any oil worker; then children became primary victims; and then finally, anyone was game. The kidnappers themselves have not been discouraged by the prospect of facing the death penalty, just like robbers also casually shrug off capital punishment. Even the novel method propounded in some parts of the Southeast to enact laws authorising the demolition of Kidnap suspects’ properties has also been ineffectual. After absorbing all the punishments the government could throw at them, kidnappers have happily gone on to perfect the template of their lucrative business. Even if they come to grief in this latest effort, they will still carry on their nefarious trade in human articles with only slight modifications.

    The reasons are not far to seek. First, the chance of success far outweighs the risk of capture, thanks to ineffective policing methods and inadequate crime fighting tools. Second, and more importantly, kidnapping, like most other crimes such as Boko Haram terrorism, requires a holistic approach rather than routine law enforcement tactics. That holistic approach entails re-engineering the polity to take advantage of lower cost of governance, foster stability, and engender economic growth to cater for rising population. Until these things are done, terrorism will increase, kidnapping will thrive, and other sundry crimes will also flourish. As unpalatable as it may sound, the Okonjo kidnap indeed hit close to home, and is one more disquieting indication of creeping state failure.

     

     

  • Working in partnership to combat corruption

    Working in partnership to combat corruption

    SIR: When 140 countries convened on December 9, 2003, to sign the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), this event underscored international abhorrence of the detrimental effects of corruption and global recognition that governments can only combat and prevent corruption through cooperative efforts. Since then, more nations joined the convention so that today 164 signatory countries make it one of the United Nations’ most highly subscribed treaties, creating a global mandate to combat corruption and the harm it brings to society.

    One of the great strengths of the convention is recognition that corruption involves a two-way street; while it is important to address the bribe payers who attempt to do business through dishonest means, it is equally important to hold accountable the bribe takers, who use their official positions for personal enrichment instead of the public good. The convention also includes stipulations on “kleptocrats,” who line their pockets and steal from their nations’ treasuries and their own people, preventing the provision of necessary public services, including medicines and health care for the sick and elderly, education for children, and nourishment and housing for families. Such activities weaken affected countries and their potential for economic growth.

    No country remains immune from corruption. To lessen the effects of corruption on a country’s economy and security, authorities must enforce anti-corruption laws, so those engaging in corrupt acts understand they cannot do so with impunity. The United States takes criminal enforcement of anti-corruption laws very seriously. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted and won convictions against 1,107 public officials from all levels of government for engaging in acts of corruption, such as soliciting and/or accepting bribes, embezzling public funds, or trading in influence. Similarly, the U.S. became the first country to prohibit its nationals from paying bribes to foreign public officials, when it enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977. Under the FCPA, each year the U.S. completes dozens of enforcement actions, penalizing companies who engage in corruption abroad, sending the message that engaging in corruption abroad is just as offensive as engaging in corruption at home.

    For any country, this two-pronged approach remains necessary to protect society from the ill effects of corruption. While it is important to penalize bribe payers to dissuade them from corrupting the system, it is equally important to prosecute public officials who betray the public trust by taking bribes or embezzling public funds. Corrupt officials who have stolen government funds or who demand bribes to award government contracts cannot be allowed to enjoy the proceeds of their corruption. Through criminal prosecution, Nigeria can end the culture of impunity and return stolen assets to productive use. This will not only help build Nigeria’s economy, it will also send the message to criminals who might believe Nigeria’s national resources or security are for sale, by closing down avenues for promoting crime and violent extremism.

    To foster the stability, security, and prosperity of its citizens, Nigeria must effectively address both sides of the corruption equation. The United States stands ready to work with Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutions to bring corrupt individuals to justice, whether through technical assistance and training, or working cooperatively to find evidence or stolen assets held abroad. Working together and with other international partners, we can combat corruption effectively and make impunity a thing of the past.

     

    • Ambassador Terence McCulley is US envoy to Nigeria

     

  • US Senate’s votes to curb indefinite detention

    US Senate’s votes to curb indefinite detention

    The Senate voted late on Thursday to prohibit the government from imprisoning American citizens and green card holders apprehended in the United States in indefinite detention without trial.

    A federal appeals court panel approved the detention of Jose Padilla, an American who was arrested in Chicago and accused of being a Qaeda operative.

    While the move appeared to bolster protections for domestic civil liberties, it was opposed by an array of rights groups who claimed it implied that other types of people inside the United States could be placed in military detention, opening the door to using the military to perform police functions.

    The measure was an amendment to this year’s National Defence Authorization Act, which is now pending on the Senate floor, and was sponsored by Senators Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Mike Lee, Republican of Utah. The Senate approved adding it to the bill by a vote of 67 to 29.

    “What if something happens and you are of the wrong race in the wrong place at the wrong time and you are picked up and held without trial or charge in detention ad infinitum?” Ms. Feinstein said during the floor debate. “We want to clarify that that isn’t the case — that the law does not permit an American or a legal resident to be picked up and held without end, without charge or trial.”

    The power of the government to imprison, without trial, Americans accused of ties to terrorism has been in dispute for a decade.

    Last year, in the previous annual version of the National Defence Authorization Act, Congress included a provision stating that the government had the authority to detain Qaeda members and their supporters as part of the war authorized shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But lawmakers could not decide whether that authority extended to people arrested on American soil, and so they left it deliberately ambiguous.

    Ms. Feinstein, arguing that law enforcement officials have proved capable of handling cases that arise on domestic soil, said the amendment was intended to”clarify” that the government may not put Americans arrested domestically in military detention.

    Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, objected to the restriction on security grounds, saying that even American citizens arrested inside the United States on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack for Al Qaeda should be held under the laws of war and interrogated without receiving the protections of ordinary criminal suspects, like a Miranda warning of a right to remain silent.

    From the other direction, an array of civil liberties and human rights groups — including the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First —objected to the amendment because it was limited to citizens and lawful permanent residents, as opposed to all people who are apprehended on United States soil.

    “Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced an amendment that superficially looks like it could help, but in fact, would cause harm,” said Chris Anders of the A.C.L.U.

    But on the floor, Ms. Feinstein said that she limited the amendment to citizens and green card holders because she believed that language would “get the maximum number of votes in this body.”

    The Senate on Thursday also passed, 94-0, a series of additional American sanctions on Iran. The amendment would impose penalties on individuals selling commodities to Iran that might be used in ship-building or the nuclear program, including aluminium and steel. It also threatened countries, like Turkey, which are buying Iranian oil with gold, in an effort to circumvent banking sanctions.

    The current language does not give the president the power to issue waivers, as he has done for countries like Japan, South Korea and India that buy Iranian oil. The White House has opposed the amendment, with officials saying they fear it could “threaten to confuse and undermine” existing effort to get allies, China and other countries to impose other sanctions already in the pipeline.

    Also on Thursday, the Senate voted, 62 to 33, for a nonbinding amendment calling for an accelerated withdrawal of United States combat forces from Afghanistan. The measure was sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, and was backed by 13 Republicans.

    • New York Times