NYT: How 3 G.O.P. Veterans Stalled Bush Detainee Bill

[DeepModem Mom]

How 3 G.O.P. Veterans Stalled Bush Detainee Bill
By CARL HULSE, KATE ZERNIKE and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: September 17, 2006
This article is by Carl Hulse, Kate Zernike and Sheryl Gay Stolberg.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 — Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham cornered their partner, Senator John W. Warner, on the Senate floor late Wednesday afternoon.

Mr. Warner, the courtly Virginian who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, had been trying for weeks to quietly work out the three Republicans’ differences with the Bush administration’s proposal to bring terrorism suspects to trial. But Senators McCain, of Arizona, and Graham, of South Carolina, who are on the committee with Mr. Warner, convinced him that the time for negotiation was over.

The three senators, all military veterans, marched off to an impromptu news conference to lay out their deep objections to the Bush legislation. Mr. Warner then personally broke the news to Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, and the next day the Armed Services Committee voted to approve a firm legislative rebuke to the president’s plan to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions.

It was a stinging defeat for the White House, not least because the views of Mr. Warner, a former Navy secretary, carry particular weight. With a long history of ties to the military, Mr. Warner, 79, has a reputation as an accurate gauge to views that senior officers are reluctant to express in public. Notably, in breaking ranks with the White House, Mr. Warner was joined by Colin L. Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a rare public breach with the administration he served as secretary of state.

As Mr. Warner left his Senate office on Friday afternoon, he carried a briefcase of material to prepare for a potential legislative showdown in the coming days. At stake, he said, was more than the fate of “these 20-odd individuals"....“It’s how America’s going to be perceived in the world, how we’re going to continue the war against terror,” Mr. Warner said....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/washington/17detain.html?hp&ex=1158465600&en=7f8787bebbf2ebf6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[texpatriot2004]

1. Congress should uphold the rule of law! nm

[JohnnyLib2]

2. from the Chairman of Armed Forces to a reservist in the field....

not to mention Colin Powell and many others, Bush's "program" is just WRONG, a path to dishonor. This post says it so well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2830102

[texpatriot2004]

3. You know it's sad that it had to come to this for any GOP member

to stand up against the heinous crimes of this Administration.