The US House of Representatives passed legislation to freeze $ 700 million aid of Pakistan, slap harsh new sanctions on Iran, and endorses indefinite imprisonment of suspected terrorists.
Acting shortly after the White House dropped a threat to veto the
bill, the Republican-led chamber voted 283-136 to approve the $662
billion Defence Authorization bill, which also sets high hurdles for
closing Guantanamobay.
The measure had drawn fire from civil liberties groups that denounced
its de-facto embrace of holding alleged extremists without charge until
the end of the “war on terrorism” declared after the September 11, 2001
attacks.
US President Barack Obama, who had threatened to veto earlier
versions of the yearly measure, will sign it when it reaches his desk
despite lingering misgivings, spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement
before the vote.
“However, if in the process of implementing this law we determine
that it will negatively impact our counterterrorism professionals and
undercut our commitment to the rule of law, we expect that the authors
of these provisions will work quickly and tirelessly to correct these
problems,” said Carney.
The bill would also freeze roughly $700 million in aid to Pakistan
pending assurances that Islamabad has taken steps to thwart militants
who use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against US-led forces in
Afghanistan.
“If this legislation becomes law, we’ll work with the government of
Pakistan on how we can fulfill the requirements. But, this requires US
to maintain a strategic perspective,” US State Department Spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland said.
Among Republicans, 190 voted yes and 43 voted no, while Democrats were evenly split with 93 votes each way. SANA
