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| Bush Says Only Lawful Questioning Authorized |
| 2004-06-12 |
| EFL hattip to WND Facing criticism for methods used to interrogate terrorism suspects held by the United States, President Bush insisted on Thursday he had always ordered questioning methods to remain within the law. "What I have authorized is that we stay within U.S. law," Bush told reporters in Savannah, Georgia, when asked what measures of interrogation he would authorize if the United States had a terror suspect in custody it knew was planning an attack. "I’m going to say it one more time. In fact, maybe I can be more clear. The instructions went out to our people to adhere to law," said Bush, speaking at the end of a Group of Eight industrial nations summit. "That ought to comfort you. We’re a nation of law. We adhere to laws. We have laws on the books. You might look at those laws, and that might provide comfort for you. And those were the instructions from me to the government." The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops, revealed in April, has raised wider questions over the interrogation of prisoners in U.S. custody during a period of heightened concerns over terror attacks. A March 2003 memo by Bush administration lawyers argued that the president, as commander-in-chief, was not tied by U.S. and international laws barring torture. The 56-page memo to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cited the president’s "complete authority over the conduct of war," overriding international treaties such as a global treaty banning torture, the Geneva Conventions and a U.S. federal law against torture. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |
| #6 Rex: there are a handful of lawyers in the newspaper newsrooms. But most of them cover the courts and legal system. I underscore the words: handful. |
| Posted by: RMcLeod 2004-06-13 2:59:15 AM |
| #5 I've got there torture threatment right here! It's Chirac on video eating cheeseburgers (read: weaselburger). |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-06-12 7:05:47 PM |
| #4 Actually, you would be surprised about what jouranlists know. Many of them are law school grads, particularly those in the major papers, so they KNOW they law. What???? It's hard for me to believe this happening. Perhaps, there are a few lawyers who submit articles to WSJ or NYT on legal issues, but I cannot believe there are too many full time journalists who graduated from law school. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-06-12 1:01:12 PM |
| #3 At a couple of the leftist blogs I keep an eye on, they're using this as evidence that it's all a sham, their reasoning being that "no one ever writes a memo or gives an order to make sure that the underlings stay within the law. It's just always assumed that you'll stay within the law." This is the sort of breath-taking stupidity from the left that makes me guffaw. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-06-12 12:14:29 PM |
| #2 Actually, you would be surprised about what jouranlists know. Many of them are law school grads, particularly those in the major papers, so they KNOW they law. They want to change the law so Americans can be murdered more easily. See, when you have an agenda, and you care so little about our national security, you are willing to place military people in mortal danger in order to make political points; you get some sense of what journalists know. I call it enforced stupidity. |
| Posted by: badanov 2004-06-12 7:40:36 AM |
| #1 Mind you, Bush isn't saying much here. (The dispute is about what the law IS here, not whether he's authorized lawlessness.) Not that the press understands stuff like, you know, the Constitution. Their mangling of the Geneva Convention should tell you all you need to know about journalistic training in law (none). |
| Posted by: someone 2004-06-12 3:00:26 AM |