Clear standards and fuzzy standards
The president wants Congress to create a legal foundation for CIA agents to use coercive interrogation tactics on suspected terrorists, but McCain — who endured torture as a Vietnam prisoner of war — has rebuked Bush’s efforts on the grounds that they would violate the Geneva Conventions against prisoner abuse.
“Congress has got a decision to make: You want the program to go forward, or not?” Bush told reporters in the Rose Garden session. “We can debate this issue all we want. But the practical matter is, if our professionals don’t have clear standards in the law, the program is not going to go forward.”
Boston Globe: Bush raps McCain’s detainee proposals
The NSA goes forward with Bush’s warrantless surveillance program even when the clear standard in the law says their actions are illegal. If you’re willing to outright ignore a clear law, how hard is it to creatively interpret a fuzzier one?
I’m still looking for the Rovian angle to all the in-fighting. Not really seeing it.
