Committee Approves Measure That Defies Bush genre: Just Jihad & Polispeak & Six Degrees of Speculation
In a growing rift between the Bush administration and Republican Senators, the Armed Services Committee voted to approve an alternative measure for the handling of terrorism detainees...a measure the President says is unacceptable and one he will oppose. The President went to the Hill earlier this morning in an effort to gain support for the bill that he prefers and that seeks to redefine some provisions contained in the Geneva Conventions. The Associated Press provides the full details here.
Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, normally a Bush supporter, pushed the measure through his Armed Services Committee by a 15-9 vote, with Warner and three other GOP lawmakers joining Democrats. The vote set the stage for a showdown on the Senate floor as early as next week.
The president's measure would go further than the Senate package in allowing classified evidence to be withheld from defendants in terror trials, using coerced testimony and protecting U.S. interrogators against prosecution for using methods that violate the Geneva Conventions.
The internal GOP struggle intensified along other fronts, too, as Colin Powell, Bush's first secretary of state, declared his opposition to the president's plan.
"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," Powell, a retired general who is also a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in a letter.
White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow, argued in today's briefing that the President's measure simply sought to better define vague terms contained in the relevant Article of the Geneva Conventions. One reporter pointed out that the provisions have been in place since 1947 and asked Snow why it would now be necessary for them to be redefined...unless it was a means to allow detainee treatment that is contrary to the original intent. Snow countered that it was out of added precaution that the administration sought further clarity...a necessity for agents to continue to perform their duties in the gathering intelligence critical to national security.
Clearly, the plan is an attempt to alter certain provisions and force the international community to challenge the redefinition...all the while providing the legal cover for the continuation of questionable methods. The approach is consistent with numerous other administration maneuvers whereby it acts arbitrarily until such time as its actions are exposed, it then disputes the claims until such time as the evidence is conclusive...at which point it attempts to rewrite the underlying laws to excuse prior actions and similar future measures.
The administration also countered with a letter from current Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, suggesting that the President was being proactive in his attempts to clarify the vague language. They also provided a letter from two senior military lawyers which stated they "do not object" to portions of the measures sought by the administration. The Associated Press article indicates that the letter was a substitute for the more emphatic original statement that the President had sought. The veiled coercion and manipulation demonstrated by the Bush administration with this and numerous other issues is clearly the topic and focus of the concerns expressed by Colin Powell. I fully concur with Powell that such actions are further undermining our already suspect moral authority.
Daniel DiRito | September 14, 2006 | 4:10 PM
Comments
1 On September 14, 2006 at 6:34 PM, Lemming Herder wrote —
The rats are jumping ship.
How can the Chicken Hawks look at themselves in the mirror?
The Geneva Convention was put into place to ensure all sides treated prisoners fairly. Easy to be against that when you serve your military service working on a political campaign while high on cocaine.
Posted by the Lemming Herder from Don’t Be A Lemming!
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