Bush hails deal with Republican rebels on treatment of prisoners

I can't be the only person who is deeply intrigued by the deal that it is said has been struck between Bush and the Republican rebels over the bill defining the treatment and trial of top terrorist suspects.

There's not much to go on so far. We have been told:

Within minutes of the news, President Bush hailed the breakthrough on what he called the "top legislative priority" of what remains of the current Congress. He called on lawmakers to pass the measure before they adjourn next week for the election campaign.

The deal, he said, "preserves the most important tool we have to protect us" - the CIA "programme" of special secret camps outside the US where suspects, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other senior al-Qa'ida personnel were held.

Now, whilst I still think secret prisons are disgraceful, the news doesn't tell us whether or not the Republicans have caved in on the reinterpretation of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

John McCain, the most influential of the rebels, said "the integrity and letter and spirit of the Conventions have been preserved."

McCain certainly seems to be hinting that Article 3 has been preserved however, as always with these guys, it's worth waiting until we see the final bill.

I am suspicious that Bush might have won the right to military tribunals by sacrificing his wish to, in effect, abolish Article 3. This will represent a major climb down for the man who threatened to abandon the interrogation of terror suspects if he failed to get his own way over this, and it will still leave the CIA open to prosecution for previous interrogations that fell out with what is allowed under Article 3.

However, I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll have to wait until the details emerge before we can be really clear about just what kind of deal has been struck here.

However, what's clear is that the American public do not back the administration when it comes to the use of torture or "alternative interrogation techniques" in order to obtain information in the War on Terror.

In the newly released New York Times/CBS poll (PDF), for instance, 56 percent said torture is never justifiable, even "to get information from a suspected terrorist".

Even more striking, 63 percent say that "when it comes to the treatment of prisoners of war," the U.S. "should follow the international agreements that it and other countries have agreed to," rather than "do what it thinks is right, even if other countries disagree."

The Republicans have now hammered out their deal. It is time for the Democrats to step up to the plate. And the opinions of ordinary Americans expressed in the above poll should give them the courage to stand up for what is right.

Will they though? Time will tell. And from the lack of balls they've shown up until now, I won't be holding my breath.

Click title for full article.

UPDATE:

It now appears that Bush has dropped his demands for Geneva to be renogatiated.

Under the deal, President Bush dropped his demand that Congress redefine the nation’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions, handing a victory to a group of Republicans, including Senator John McCain of Arizona, whose opposition had created a showdown over a fundamental aspect of the rules for battling terrorism.

The administration’s original stance had run into fierce resistance from former and current military lawyers and Mr. Bush’s former secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They argued, as did Mr. McCain and the other two senators leading the resistance, that any redefinition would invite other nations to alter their obligations and endanger American troops captured abroad.

The White House moved quickly to assert that it had not surrendered. Administration officials characterized the negotiations as cooperative and the result as a victory for all sides.

I'm not remotely surprised that Bush is claiming he has not surrendered. It's further proof that he simply lives in an alternative reality from the rest of us. It's impossible to forget that it was only a couple of days ago that he was threatening to withdraw the bill if the rebels did not accede to his request.

I am relieved that sanity has prevailed and that Bush has been defeated. However, I'll still need to know more about what this "compromise" actually entails before I make up my mind on what I think of all this. The details are still at this point extremely vague.

Tags: Bush, McCain, Article 3, Geneva Conventions, deal,