President still wants to use torture
How is it that a 50 year old document (the Geneva Convention) isn’t clear? America has been able to get information out of prisoners for years without asking for a rule “clarification” from Congress.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell had great timing. He had been quiet for too long especially on this subject. He sent a letter to John McCain which added a considerable about of political weight to McCain and other Republicans trying to resist the President.
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WaPo:
A Senate committee rebuffed the personal entreaties of President Bush yesterday, rejecting his proposed strategies for interrogating and trying enemy combatants and approving alternative legislation that he has strenuously opposed.
The bipartisan vote sets up a legislative showdown on an issue that GOP strategists had hoped would unite their party and serve as a cudgel against Democrats in the Nov. 7 elections. Instead, Bush and congressional Republican leaders are at loggerheads with a dissident group led by Sen. John McCain (R), who says the president’s approach would jeopardize the safety of U.S. troops and intelligence operatives.
Despite heavy lobbying by Bush, who visited the Capitol yesterday, and Vice President Cheney, who was there Tuesday, McCain and his allies held fast. Even former secretary of state Colin L. Powell weighed in on McCain’s side.
Moments after the Armed Services Committee voted 15 to 9 to endorse McCain’s alternative bill, the Arizona senator lashed out at CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, who had also lobbied lawmakers personally. [Read more →]
