Posted on 09/16/2006 3:18:44 PM PDT by upchuck
Sept. 16, 2006, 3:53PM
WASHINGTON - President Bush heatedly warned rebellious Republicans and other lawmakers Friday that CIA questioning of high-value terrorism suspects will end unless the rules are clarified on how far the interrogations can go.
"Congress has got a decision to make. Do you want the program to go forward or not?" Bush said of the interrogations, his voice rising as his hands chopped a lectern to punctuate his point. "The bottom line is simple: If Congress passes a law that does not clarify the rules, the program's not going forward."
The political fight about the international rules that the Supreme Court has said must govern treatment of terror suspects dominated the president's Rose Garden news conference.
Warner and fellow Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have argued that changing the standard would open the door for other countries to interpret the rules on prisoner treatment in ways that could endanger captured Americans. Former Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell also expressed concerns about the Bush proposals, saying he feared the United States was compromising its moral authority in the world.
On Powell's concerns, Bush snapped, "It's unacceptable to think there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective."
Bush said the standards are so vague that CIA officers could face criminal prosecution for using interrogation techniques such as applying heat or cold to prisoners' surroundings or temporarily withholding food or light.
"Instead of picking fights with Colin Powell, John McCain and other military experts, President Bush should change course, do what the American people expect, and finally give them the real security they deserve," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
But Bush repeated contentions that using rough techniques to get information from terrorists such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, already had stopped further attacks inside the United States. Bush warned in dire tones that any compromise of the interrogation program would increase the risk of attack.
"Time is running out," Bush said. "Congress needs to act wisely and promptly."
Congress will face several options next week on how to proceed on the interrogation program.
The House Armed Services Committee passed 52-8 — with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans — the administration's version of the bill. The legislation would assign Congress the task of providing detailed wording on what is legal in detainee interrogations.
As the leader of GOP senators, Frist can have the Senate debate Bush's proposal, which he supports.
Any bill that goes to the full Senate floor would be subject to proposed amendments and the resulting legislation would then have to be reconciled with the House's pro-Bush bill by a Senate-House committee.
There are several key differences between the Bush administration's plan and the Warner-McCain-Graham bill, but the critical impasse is about the Geneva Conventions' language.
Under the Bush bill, Common Article 3 would be interpreted to ban "severe physical or mental pain or suffering, including severe physical abuse" — the same language used by McCain in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which banned torture in interrogations. But McCain wants to preserve Article 3's broader protections, such as the prohibition of degrading treatment and other aggressive techniques that fall short of torture.
McCain's bill would ban "cruel, unusual or inhumane treatment" as defined by U.S. courts interpreting the Constitution's 5th, 8th and 14th Amendments.
I add (to the Senators):
Please explain why you want to legitimize the actions of terrorists by placing them under the protection of the Geneva Convention?
Then, we shall simply have to turn these "detainees" over to the locals for their patented methods of information extraction. This is surely a much more humane means of obtaining intelligence.
The other choice is to release the detainees altogether. I suggest downtown San Francisco. They will be among friends there.
People have notoriously poor memories about things like 9/11. Already there is a sizable minority right here in the US that believes that the Bush Administration deliberately blew up the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, to justify panicking the Congress into supporting foreign military adventures.
And there is a very active propaganda corps out there hard at work to expand this perception even further. Once they get to 50% plus one, they will declare victory and set about demolishing the remainder of the dissidents.
And these were states, who at least had a sense of shame, to some degree, about using torture. As far as I know, most of them tried to keep their torturing hidden from the eyes of the international community.
But not the Islamic terrorists. They publish their torturings on the internet for all to see.
The notion that these people would repay us in kind for our generous treatment of their prisoners is beyond naive. The obvious reality is that they are even less likely to do so than those who have tortured our soldiers in the past.
If McCain thinks he will be President, forget it. This lo$er, ba$tard, and all other names I reall want to call him should be shamed to death. Better yet, give him the Saudi stoning sentence.
I am mad as hell with this Bill's progress in the senate.
If McCain thinks he will be President, forget it. This lo$er, ba$tard, and all other names I reall want to call him should be shamed to death. Better yet, give him the Saudi stoning sentence.
I am mad as hell with this Bill's progress in the senate.
If McCain thinks he will be President, forget it. This lo$er, ba$tard, and all other names I reall want to call him should be shamed to death. Better yet, give him the Saudi stoning sentence.
I am mad as hell with this Bill's progress in the senate.
SO SORRY FOR screw up and multiple posts.....
Feed the prisoners to the sharks.
I think it's worth repeating...
McCain has used his ex-POW status for long enough. Now he is willing to put our safety at rish for his political aims, pious bastard.
If Dems gain control of the House, they will start impeachment hearings on any number of counts - the War in Iraq; just the existence of Gitmo; etc.
But it was the *Courts* that said he doesn't have the authority to decide how to handle detained terrorists. That won't change. Congress has to pass a law.
Pack up all the detainees and drop them off in their country of record. (If they get dropped off at altitude, all the better.)
President Bush could say something to the effect that anything that happens because of this can be laid right on the doorstep of all the judges, politicians, and other appeasers who gave the terrorists a "bill of rights."
The solution is simple, really--even the Fox babe got it right today.
Simply treat them them as ordinary POWs and tell them they will be released when the War on Terror is over. I don't think that will be anytime soon, so it's an automatic life sentence.
Don't need lawyers, or trials, or arguments with liberals from either party for that.
Do need to figure out how to interrogate them though.
'..detainees should be placed under house arrest in residences ......
My sentiments exactly! I'm sure Kennedy has lots of room at his compound.
I've called offices of Warner, McCain and Graham. I'll call again to let them know if America is attacked and my family along with millions of other American families are affected, I'll hold them personally responsible.
It helped capture your belief and strong feelings on the matter. Good job in my book.
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