Our Fearless Leader takes his bold stand against any further Jacksons songs:
President Bush embraced Sen. John McCain's proposal to ban cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of terrorism suspects on Thursday, reversing months of opposition that included White House veto threats.
Bowing to pressure from the Republican-run Congress and abroad, the White House signed off on the proposal after a fight that pitted the president against members of his own party and threatened to further tarnish a U.S. image already soiled by the abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
Bush said the ban and accompanying interrogation standards will "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad."
Hey, that's great. And all it took to change his mind was lobbying by the one guy in the United States Senate who's actually been tortured.
Given that precedent, Bush should have a lot of input on any upcoming DWI legislation.
After the deal was announced, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he would block completion of one of the two defense bills that includes the ban unless he got White House assurances that "the same high level of effective intelligence gathering" would be achieved if the agreement became law.
Gee, that shouldn't be too hard.
The agreement was reached a day after the House — in bipartisan fashion — endorsed McCain's proposal. That vote put both GOP-controlled chambers behind McCain by veto-proof majorities, putting pressure on the White House to reach an agreement.
It came as the president finds himself defending his wartime policies daily amid declining public support for the Iraq war and his own low standing in opinion polls. The United States also is feeling pressure and facing questions from its European allies over its treatment of detainees held abroad.
It remains to be see how the McCain amendment will succeed when all those other proscriptions against torture our country allegedly agrees with have failed. Presumably the Eighth Amendment, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UNCAT, and the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions don't pack enough "oomph" for the current Administration.
Of course, if that "goddamned piece of paper" isn't enough for our President, I don't see how a series of resolutions written by a bunch of goddamed foreigners should make a difference.
I heard (from a decidedly biased source) that the bill that will include McCain's proposal will also include drilling in ANWR. Thus ensuring that either they'll finally get to spoil Alaska, *or* they'll get to spoil the careers of any Dems who vote against the bill (What, you're not against TORTURE? You beast!).
Hooray for bipartisan cooperation!