Chris Dodd for President

After detaining hundreds of terrorism suspects for more than five years at the Guantánamo Bay prison, the Bush administration still hasn't created a fair system for trying terror-war crimes. The first military commissions were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Now the second set of rules for terror-war trials, issued last month, fails -- again -- to abide by long-established U.S. and international legal standards.

Coercion, not torture

As Lord Peter Goldsmith, Britain's top lawyer, told the American Bar Association in Miami on Monday, ``The changes made are too little and too late. There remain fundamental problems with this system of detention.''

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Senate Democrats Tuesday unveiled proposed legislation to restore some legal rights to suspected terrorists, but distanced themselves from calls to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., filed a bill that would restore the right of detainees to challenge their detention, bar evidence gained through torture and allow detainees to invoke the Geneva Convention.

The filing comes four months after the GOP-led Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006, described by supporters as a critical weapon against terrorism.

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Sen. Chris Dodd introduced legislation Tuesday to provide suspected terrorists with basic rights to a fair and speedy trial granted to American citizens under the U.S. Constitution.

The legislation would replace a military tribunal law Congress approved last September at the behest of the Bush administration. The law imposed restrictions on a terrorist suspect's ability to challenge his detention, examine evidence against him and bar testimony obtained through coercion.

"I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting this country from terrorists," the Connecticut Democrat said. "But there is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this."

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U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, who has urged greater regional diplomacy to turn around the escalating sectarian violence in Iraq, departs Friday for the Middle East to begin his own round of peace negotiations.

Dodd, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, plans to visit leaders of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. He is particularly interested in opening up a dialogue with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"I'm not going to suggest that one United States senator going into Syria is going to change everything. But I do think it's important that they do hear directly from members of Congress about concerns we may have, and questions we may wish to raise," said Dodd, D-Conn.

Dodd planned to visit Syria in April, when he was in the region, but the State Department objected.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Christopher J. Dodd will conduct his own Middle East peace talks beginning this week as he plans to visit the leaders of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel.

Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, will be accompanied by Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., both of whom are possible 2008 presidential contenders. Both also are veteran members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and have long criticized the Bush administration for not using diplomacy to cool tensions in the Middle East.

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