Dem blocks Bush nominees for documents

[sabra]

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http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/printer_1040108.php

Dem blocks Bush nominees for documents

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- Democrat firebrand Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan is holding up several nominations the White House says are vital to the war on terror because he says he believes the Senate is being denied information it needs for oversight of that war.

Levin has put hold -- an arcane parliamentary procedure through which a single senator can stall any nomination -- three nominees: Ben Powell, tapped to be the general counsel in the office of the new director of national intelligence; Alice Fisher, awaiting confirmation as head of the Justice Department`s Criminal Division; and Eric Edelman, a career diplomat whose nomination as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy has been pending since May.

"These are critical national security positions that need to be filled soon," White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino told United Press International Monday.

In each instance, Levin remains at loggerheads with the administration over access to documents or individuals that he believes are vital for the Congress to fulfill its constitutional role in overseeing the executive`s implementation of policy.

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[MaineDem]

1. Olympia Snowe, a Republican, put a hold on one

I think it was England...from the Pentagon. The Maine right-wing is NOT happy with her.

[rox63]

2. I wish Snowe would just go and leave the Repukes

They left her years ago. For a repuke, she's not bad.

[MaineDem]

4. I agree, she could be worse but...

She still votes with the GOP most of the time, especially when it counts. I'm waiting for her to vote contrary to their way of thinking when it really makes a difference.

[kestrel91316]

3. Another Democrat grows a spine!

[merwin]

5. The dems need to keep repating one unified line:

When you give us ALL of the documents, we will give you your fair up or down vote.

[mom cat]

6. Keep asking: .............What are they hiding?

[Judi Lynn]

7. Good for Levin. He'd better stay away from small airplanes permanently.

From the article:

Powell`s nomination is stalled until Levin gets a copy of a document prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department, known as the second Bybee memorandum.

Written by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, the memo reportedly contains a detailed consideration of the legality of a series of interrogation techniques -- including \"water-boarding,\" where detainees are strapped to a plank and then forced under water to make them believe they will drown.

Critics of the administration`s detainee policy see the memo as a \"smoking gun,\" which will reveal that interrogation techniques widely regarded as illegal under international law and tantamount to torture were secretly authorized by senior officials in the Justice Department and White House.
(snip)

That torture device would be pure hell for anyone. How sick can these people be? I hope there IS an accounting for this cruelty down the road.

[jbnow]

8. Levin was blocking

Peter Flory as an assistant secretary of defense over a dispute about document releases too. Bush got him in with a recess appointment last week.

In that Iraq war resolution (which Levin voted against) there was a requirement that Bush make a full report to Congress every 60 days if we did go to war as an addition to Congress's normal oversight responsibility. bush really does think he is king.