Talking About Torture

Remember Habeas

Nedra Pickler writes for the Associated Press: "The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he has a problem with the Republican agreement on rules for the interrogation and trial of suspects in the war on terror.

"President Bush is pushing Congress to put the agreement into law before adjourning for the midterm elections, but Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday he 'vigorously' disagrees with the habeas corpus provision of the bill.

"The provision would allow legal counsel and a day in court to only those detainees selected by the Pentagon for prosecution. Other terror suspects could be held indefinitely without a hearing."

Iraq: Making Terror Worse

Mark Mazzetti writes in the New York Times: "A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document. . . .

"The report 'says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,' said one American intelligence official."

Karen DeYoung writes in The Washington Post that senior intelligence officials describe "a different kind of conflict than the one outlined by President Bush in a series of recent speeches marking the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."

David Millikin writes for AFP: "The intelligence document rocked a central pillar of the Republican Party's campaign platform ahead of November elections: that the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ouster of Saddam Hussein made America safer, not weaker."

Richard A. Serrano writes in the Los Angeles Times: "The White House on Sunday sharply disagreed with a new U.S. intelligence assessment that the war in Iraq is encouraging global terrorism, as Bush administration officials stressed that anti-American fervor in the Muslim world began long before the Sept. 11 attacks.

"White House spokesman Peter Watkins declined to talk specifically about the National Intelligence Estimate, a classified analysis that represents a consensus view of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. . . .

"But the White House view, according to Watkins, is that much of the radicals' rage at the United States and Israel goes back generations and is not linked to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq."

In one of the White House press office's weakest attempts at rebuttal, an e-mail to reporters on Sunday asserted that Bush himself has repeatedly said that terrorists are more dispersed, less centralized, and still a threat.

As for the conclusion that the war in Iraq has become a primary recruitment vehicle for violent Islamic extremists, the White House responded: "The terrorists' own words, cited in the President's September 5th remarks, show they are driven by numerous reasons, including establishing a caliphate encompassing much of the world."

And the liberal Think Progress Web site points out that Bush has already made it clear that he simply rejects the NIE's conclusion.

Bush got the report in April. Here he is in August : "You know, I've heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived, and kind of 'we're going to stir up the hornet's nest' theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East."

Clinton Attacks

Jim Efstathiou Jr. writes for Bloomberg: "Former President Bill Clinton accused the Bush administration of largely ignoring the threat from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden until the Sept. 11 attacks and defended his record on counterterrorism.

"Democrat Clinton said he came 'closer to killing' bin Laden than anybody has since in operations he approved, including a 1998 missile strike on terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

"'No, I didn't get him but at least I tried,' Clinton said in an interview broadcast today on the 'Fox News Sunday' program. 'That's the difference between me and some, including all the right-wingers who are attacking me now.'

"Clinton said some of Republican President George W. Bush's allies, who now say Clinton didn't do enough to stop bin Laden, accused him of being 'too obsessed' with the terrorist leader while he was in office. Bush 'downgraded' the role of former White House adviser on counterterrorism Richard Clarke and failed to focus on bin Laden before the attacks, Clinton said."

Here's the transcript and the video .

For good measure, Clinton also talked about Karl Rove and fear.

"WALLACE: Let's talk some politics. In [a] New Yorker article, you say that you are tired of Karl Rove's B.S., although I'm cleaning up what you said.

"CLINTON: But I do like the -- but I also say I'm not tired of Karl Rove. I don't blame Karl Rove. If you've got a deal that works, you just keep on doing it.

"WALLACE: So what is the B.S.?

CLINTON: Well, every even-numbered year, right before an election, they come up with some security issue. . . . We're going to win a lot of seats if the American people aren't afraid. If they're afraid and we get divided again, then we may only win a few seats.

"WALLACE: And the White House, the Republicans want to make the American people afraid?

"CLINTON: Of course they do. Of course they do. They want us to be -- they want another homeland security deal. And they want to make it about -- not about Iraq but about some other security issue, where, if we disagree with them, we are, by definition, imperiling the security of the country.

"And it's a big load of hooey."

Bush's Anguish

Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post about Bush's private anguish when he meets families of the fallen.

"His public persona gives little sense that he dwells on the costs of war. He does not seem to agonize as Johnson did, or even as his father, George H.W. Bush, did before the Persian Gulf War. While he pays tribute to those who have fallen, the president strives to show resolve and avoid displays that might be seen as weak or doubting. His refusal to attend military funerals, while taking long Texas vacations and extended bicycle rides, strikes some critics as callous indifference.

"Yet the private Bush comes across differently in the accounts of aides, friends, relatives and military family members who have met with him, including some who do not support him. . . .

"Hildi Halley, a self-described liberal antiwar activist who met with President Bush in Maine last month, said she believes he felt her grief. 'It wasn't just a crocodile tear,' she said in an interview at her home. . . .

"Bush said he hoped their meeting helped her healing. 'You know what would help my healing?' she recalled responding. 'If you change your policies in the Mideast.' Bush smiled, she said, but did not reply.

"Halley said the meeting did not change either of their minds. She would still vote against him. But she said she appreciated that he opened himself up to her. 'I don't think he's a heartless man,' she said. 'I think he's pulled in a lot of different directions by very intelligent people. . . . I don't think it's going to change his policies, but I hope it does make him think about it. I hope I'm in his dreams.'"

On Language

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "Shortly after terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush's speechwriters began grappling with a linguistic puzzle: What to call the enemy? In the five years since, Mr. Bush has road-tested an array of terms: evildoers, jihadists, Islamic extremists, even 'Al Qaeda suiciders.'

"But no phrase has crashed and burned as fast as the president's most recent entry into the foreign policy lexicon: Islamic fascists, or, Islamo-fascism."

Campaign Watch

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "Since President Bush's approval rating sank to the lowest level of his presidency in May, nearly six in 10 of his appearances helping Republican candidates have been closed to all media coverage.

"Unlike his barnstorming leading up to the 2002 congressional elections, when he was more popular and the divisive Iraq war had not begun, Bush has yet to hold a single traditional campaign-style rally for one of his party's hopefuls this election cycle.

"Every one of his events for GOP gubernatorial, House and Senate candidates has been to raise money from faithful Republican donors _ not to urge support among the broader voting public."

Yoo Who?

Eric Brewer , a liberal blogger for BTCNews and occasional visitor to White House briefings, writes about his experiences at Friday morning's gaggle, "in which Tony Snow laughs at me (but the last laugh is on Tony)."

According to Brewer's transcript, he asked a perfectly reasonable question, quoting from a recent New York Times op-ed by former deputy assistant attorney general John Yoo, one of the leading architects of Bush's sweeping assertion of executive power.

Yoo had defended Bush's signing statements. Brewer asked: "Why doesn't the president veto laws that he thinks are unconstitutional?"

Snow responded with scorn: "You haven't been around here much, have you? This is a question we've done many times, so, for those of you who've heard it before, you may resume your crossword puzzles."

After a meandering rehash, Snow asked: "So, who was John Yoo deputy assistant attorney general for?"

Brewer: "Um, President Bush."

Snow: "OK. Was he really?"

Other reporters: "Yeah, yeah. The architect."

Snow: "Wow. He was the architect of this. . . . WOW! This is great! In any event, uh . . . boy, I stepped in that one, didn't I? (laughter)"

Nice Threads

Well, he may not know something as basic as who John Yoo is, but he sure knows how to color-coordinate.

Ray A. Smith writes in the Wall Street Journal: "Five months into the job, the former Fox News pundit is using his wardrobe to communicate that he's not the stereotypical press secretary. . . .

"Mr. Snow mixes things up, with colors that often seem to reflect the administration's mood. Discussing Syria recently, he wore a serious white shirt and maroon tie. When the president gave an upbeat press conference in the Rose Garden after a surprise visit to Iraq, Mr. Snow wore a cheery pink shirt and light blue tie."

Nedra, Baby

Bush had a photo op this morning with business leaders about Lebanon reconstruction efforts. From the pool report by Lisa Friedman of the Los Angeles Daily News:

"POTUS took no questions. Upon departure of the pool he turned to AP White House Reporter Nedra Pickler and said 'Nedra, baby, I'm gonna miss you. I'm sad you're leaving.' Pickler, who has been assigned to cover the '08 election but will not leave until after the midterms, replied 'Don't count me out yet! I'm here six more weeks.'"

Gas Watch

A new Gallup Poll finds that an astonishing 42 percent of Americans believe that the Bush administration has deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall's elections.

But whether this has happened or not should not be a matter of idle speculation. As a determinable fact, it should be the object of some reporting.

How 'bout it, colleagues?