On a Cracking Limb

Last week, Democrats were crowing about the cover John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham were providing on the interrogation and military tribunals for terrorists. That cover disappeared Thursday night when the White House and McCain, Warner and Graham reached a deal on this legislation.

The Beltway media will spin this as President Bush giving up more than McCain but, based on the first reporting, the opposite is most likely the truth. What this deal does is force Democratic legislators and candidates off the fence. Here's how Jim Webb handled it on MTP:

MR. WEBB: I'm with Senator Warner on this, and I think in terms of what Colin Powell is saying, that's a very important piece of how we view, how we deal long-term with the Islamic world particularly, that we have to stay on the moral high ground. And what you're seeing here is a split between the theorists, who have controlled so much of the policy in this administration, theorists who have never been on a battlefield, who have never put a uniform on, and who are looking at this thing in a totally different way from people who have had to worry about their troops and themselves possibly coming under enemy hands. This is a very easy issue for me to decide on.

I suspect that Sen. Allen will now ask Mr. Webb to actually state a position on this legislation. I suspect that Sen. Allen's campaign will remind Mr. Webb that this administration's "theorists who have never been on a battlefield" have firmed up their position on this issue and have gotten Sens. McCain and Warner, who've both "been on a battlefield" to agree to a deal that gives the President what he wants: the ability to aggressively interrogate terrorists, though I understand that waterboarding won't be allowed.

It'll be interesting to see how other Democratic candidates handle this issue.

Another interesting thing to watch will be to see how easily this legislation passes the House and Senate. I'll especially be watching to see how Democratic senators will play this and vote on this.

Bush, speaking from a Republican fundraiser in Orlando, said the accord "preserves the...most potent tool we have in protecting America and foiling terrorist attacks, and that is the CIA program to question the world's most dangerous terrorists and to get their secrets." CIA Director Michael Hayden told his staff in a memo that the agreement would give his operatives "the clarity and the support that we need to move forward."

The bottom line from that paragraph is that the same techniques that prevented at least 8 terrorist attacks will now be codified into law, which is all that mattered.

UPDATE: Here's some additional information on the deal:

The agreement:

• Ensures detainees are handled according to the Geneva Convention mandates
• Requires an unclassified summary of any classified evidence leading to a conviction be shown to defendants at the administration's proposed military trials

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The compromise spells out specific acts, such as murder, mutilation, intentional serious bodily injury and sexual assault, that are "grave breaches" of the Geneva Convention and could subject interrogators to prosecution. The White House says this provides "clear guidance to our men and women in uniform as to what puts them at risk for criminal prosecution." McCain said he was satisfied. "There is no doubt that the integrity and spirit of the Geneva Conventions have been preserved," he said.

This verifies what I said last night: that Bush got almost everything that he wanted and that McCain and Graham got an assurance that gives them a fig leaf of cover enabling them to come in off the limb that they'd climbed out on.

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Posted Friday, September 22, 2006 4:38 PM

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