Posted on 07/27/2005 5:21:29 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
WASHINGTON, July 26 - President Bush's nominee for the second-ranking spot at the Justice Department shed new light Tuesday on the 2002 development of the administration's positions on the treatment of terrorism detainees, but characterized some of the legal conclusions as "sophomoric."
The nominee for deputy attorney general, Timothy E. Flanigan, was at the center of the administration's policies on torture as deputy White House counsel through late 2002. At his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned him extensively, and sometimes critically, about his role in formulating policies on the treatment of prisoners in the campaign against terrorism.
He also faced tough questioning on his views on Congressional oversight, his lack of experience as a prosecutor and his ties to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist who is now under criminal investigation. Mr. Flanigan acknowledged that as general counsel at Tyco International, a corporation that became embroiled in scandal before his arrival in December 2002, he had personally supervised Mr. Abramoff's lobbying work for Tyco in 2003.
Despite the questions, Mr. Flanigan, 52, appears likely to be confirmed by the full Senate. Republican leaders praised his legal acumen and his capacity to serve in the position.
But Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who leads the committee, said he was so concerned about Mr. Flanigan's limited view of what information the administration is obligated to give Congress that it could affect his vote.
Much of the hearing focused on Mr. Flanigan's role in developing the Bush administration's policies on the treatment of prisoners, and in particular an opinion by Jay S. Bybee at the Office of Legal Counsel of the Justice Department in August 2002 that gave a narrow definition of torture.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Just say.."you know what senators..Im a big fan of radical muslim torture. How about you senator softie."
Don't those bozos on the "Judiciary" Committee read the NYT and Newweak? America's "torture policy" is all in there complete with pictures.
extreme sarcasm/off
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