Who's Afraid of George W. Bush?

"Mr. Karzai characterized Iran as 'a helper' in a CNN interview broadcast Sunday. But when the two men greeted reporters here on Monday, Mr. Bush pointedly disagreed, saying, 'I would be very cautious about whether the Iranian influence in Afghanistan is a positive force.'

"Iran has sent workers to Afghanistan to provide aid to villages, but American officials contend that Tehran is also funneling weapons into the country. Mr. Bush has long viewed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism, and is deeply suspicious of its nuclear ambitions, a view he reiterated Monday even as he said he was 'willing to listen' to Mr. Karzai's position."

Here's the transcript of the short press availability.

Olivier Knox of AFP catches Bush in a misstatement: "US President George W. Bush charged Monday that Iran has openly declared that it seeks nuclear weapons -- an inaccurate accusation at a time of sharp tensions between Washington and Tehran.

"'It's up to Iran to prove to the world that they're a stabilizing force as opposed to a destabilizing force. After all, this is a government that has proclaimed its desire to build a nuclear weapon,' he said during a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"But Iran has repeatedly said that its nuclear program, which is widely believed in the West to be cover for an effort to develop atomic weapons, is for civilian purposes."

So did the White House retract the statement once reporters inquired about it? No.

"Asked to provide examples of Tehran openly declaring that it seeks atomic weapons, White House officials contacted by AFP said that Bush was referring to Iran's defiance of international calls to freeze sensitive nuclear work. . . .

"'After keeping their nuclear program secret for a decade, the Iranian government has refused the offers of the international community to provide nuclear energy and continues to flout the inspectors of the IAEA,' said national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

"'Unfortunately, their intentions seem clear,' Johndroe said."

Maura Reynolds writes in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush declined to say Monday whether the United States would seek permission from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf before attacking top Al Qaeda leaders if intelligence indicated they were hiding in Pakistan."

Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post: "Democrats used Karzai's visit to lambaste Bush's record. 'Despite reassuring words from the White House, it is undeniable the president has dropped the ball on the real front in the war on terror -- Afghanistan,' said Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). 'Osama bin Laden remains at large, attacks are on the rise, poppy crops, which are used to finance Taliban operations, are at record levels, and al-Qaeda is regrouping on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.'"

Torture Watch

Dahlia Lithwick writes for Slate: "There are two ways to think about the Bush administration's willingness to torture prisoners in the wake of 9/11. One is the story we were sold after we learned about Abu Ghraib: A few 'bad apples' at the lowest levels of the military went a little crazy and tortured some prisoners on their own initiative, for which (some) were duly punished. The second is confirmed in a new and devastating piece of investigating by The New Yorker's Jane Mayer: A systematic and rigorous program of highly abusive interrogation was approved at the highest levels of government at so-called 'black sites' around the world. This second version of the national torture story reveals not so much the bad apples as a profoundly diseased tree."

Here is Mayer's New Yorker piece. She writes "The C.I.A.'s interrogation program is remarkable for its mechanistic aura. 'It's one of the most sophisticated, refined programs of torture ever,' an outside expert familiar with the protocol said. 'At every stage, there was a rigid attention to detail. Procedure was adhered to almost to the letter. There was top-down quality control, and such a set routine that you get to the point where you know what each detainee is going to say, because you've heard it before. It was almost automated. People were utterly dehumanized. People fell apart. It was the intentional and systematic infliction of great suffering masquerading as a legal process. It is just chilling.'"

Go read it.

Josh White, Julie Tate and Joby Warrick write in The Washington Post about a secret report from the International Committee of the Red Cross about the CIA sites that Mayer describes, in which the treatment of prisoners is called "tantamount to torture."

"The ICRC report, which was given to CIA Director Gen. Michael V. Hayden and has had limited distribution within the administration's highest ranks, details interviews with the 14 detainees and assesses the CIA program," The Post reporters write. "Sources familiar with the document have told The Washington Post that the report shows amazing similarities in terms of how the detainees were treated even though they were kept isolated from one another.

"Sources also have told The Post that the detainees almost universally told the ICRC that they made up stories to get the harsh interrogations to stop, possibly leading U.S. officials astray with bad intelligence."

Gonzales (Non) Death Watch

Peter Wallsten and Richard B. Schmitt write in the Los Angeles Times: "Democrats are not winning the battle to force Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales from office, stymied by a legal system that gives the Bush administration wide discretion to block investigations of itself. And they are not getting the White House witnesses or records they have demanded in recent weeks.

"But many Democrats are fine with that.

"Although they may prove fruitless, the Democrats' investigative efforts may help keep President Bush and his administration the center of attention in next year's elections, even as the Republican Party chooses a new standard-bearer and tries to move on."

Censure Watch

Fox News reports: "The White House responded to two censure resolutions on Monday. . . .

"'We understand that some Democrats in Congress don't support the president's plans to keep the country safe and prosperous. At the same time, we welcome the opportunity to work with members on important legislation to fund our troops who are in harm's way, make us less reliant on foreign sources of energy, to make health care more affordable, and extend tax relief to America's families and businesses,' spokesman Scott Stanzel told FOX News."

Over the weekend, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., introduced two censure resolutions. Feingold explains them on his Web site.

Impeachment (Non) Watch

Michael Tomasky writes in a Washington Post opinion piece: "There's little disagreement among liberals about the substance. If any administration since President Richard M. Nixon's has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, surely it's this one."

But, he writes: "Impeachment is not merely a bad idea, but the single worst course of action that Democrats could possibly undertake -- the only thing they could do that might, in one stroke, convert Bush from the figure of contempt and mockery he is now into one of vague sympathy."

Novak Watch

Columnist Robert M. Novak, via Think Progress: "I don't support this administration. The president's cut me off the list of conservative columnists that are invited there. They consider me a lot of trouble."

Rove's Addiction

Has Karl Rove traded in his BlackBerry for an iPhone? Owen Thomas of Valleywag thinks so, based on this Chris Usher photo for Time.

Cartoon Watch

Pat Oliphant on surveillance; Ann Telnaes, Dwane Powell and Rex Babin on terrified Democrats.