“In October [28] 2009, President [Barack] Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which included the Military Commissions Act of 2009. While the legislation sought to remedy the defects of the 2006 Act, it retained the basic structure of the military commissions and failed to address many substantive rule of law concerns. While evidence obtained through torture or otherwise coerced interrogations has been made inadmissible, the Secretary of Defense retains the right to enact rules which permit coerced statements and hearsay evidence. The term ‘unlawful enemy combatant’ has been replaced with ‘unlawful enemy belligerent,’–little more than a cosmetic legal makeover. Under the new law, defendants have the right to attend their entire trial and examine all evidence presented against them, to cross-examine witnesses against them, and to call their own witnesses.”
– M. Cherif Bassiouni, The Institutionalization of Torture by the Bush Administration, Page 136