George W. Bush, The Torture President, gilds his legacy

[seafan]

Bush Uses Veto on C.I.A. Tactics to Affirm Legacy



President Bush to veto bill banning CIA from using waterboarding


By STEVEN LEE MYERS
March 9, 2008

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Saturday further cemented his legacy of fighting for strong executive powers, using his veto to shut down a Congressional effort to limit the Central Intelligence Agency’s latitude to subject terrorism suspects to harsh interrogation techniques.

Mr. Bush vetoed a bill that would have explicitly prohibited the agency from using interrogation methods like waterboarding, a technique in which restrained prisoners are threatened with drowning and that has been the subject of intense criticism at home and abroad. Many such techniques are prohibited by the military and law enforcement agencies.

The veto deepens his battle with increasingly assertive Democrats in Congress over issues at the heart of his legacy. As his presidency winds down, he has made it clear he does not intend to bend in this or other confrontations on issues from the war in Iraq to contempt charges against his chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten, and former counsel, Harriet E. Miers.

.....

Mr. Bush’s veto — the ninth of his presidency, but the eighth in the past 10 months with Democrats in control of Congress — underscored his determination to preserve many of the executive prerogatives his administration has claimed in the name of fighting terrorism, and to enshrine them into law.

Mr. Bush is now fighting with Congress over the expansion of powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and over the depth of the American security commitments to Iraq once the United Nations mandate for international forces there expires at the end of the year.
The administration has also moved ahead with the first military tribunals of those detained at Guantánamo Bay, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, despite calls to try them in civilian courts.

All are issues that turn on presidential powers. And as he has through most of his presidency, he built his case on the threat of terrorism.

“The fact that we have not been attacked over the past six and a half years is not a matter of chance,” Mr. Bush said...

Mr. Bush, you are lying.

You are covering up the truth of the ANTHRAX ATTACKS in September/October, 2001.

Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has been an outspoken opponent of torture, often referring to his own experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. In this case he supported the administration’s position, arguing as Mr. Bush did Saturday that the legislation would have limited the C.I.A.’s ability to gather intelligence.

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Reaction to Bush's Veto of Torture Bill, March 8, 2008

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"The president has once again compromised the moral leadership of our nation." — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"I am sure that the executive and legislative branches will continue to exchange ideas on the legal framework governing interrogations, including interrogations of the most dangerous international terrorists. Whatever the result, our agency's position is absolutely clear: CIA will continue to operate within the law, strictly abiding by the decisions of the republic we protect." — CIA Director Michael Hayden.

"Failing to legally prohibit the use of waterboarding and other harsh torture techniques undermines our nation's moral authority, puts American military and diplomatic personnel at-risk, and undermines the quality of intelligence." — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"The president's veto sends a message to the world that despite Congress' actions, our country will continue to engage in this inhumane and heinous conduct when we should be affirming unequivocally and in one voice that torture and abuse will stop and never happen again. No one is above the rule of law, including the president." — Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Unless Congress overrides the veto, it will go down in history as a flagrant insult to the rule of law and a serious stain on the good name of America in the eyes of the world." — Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

"I have heard nothing to suggest that information obtained from enhanced interrogation techniques has prevented an imminent terrorist attack. And I have heard nothing that makes me think the information obtained from these techniques could not have been obtained through traditional interrogation methods used by military and law enforcement interrogators." — Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"President Bush will go down in history as the torture president. He has now defied a majority of Congress to allow the use of interrogation techniques that any reasonable observer would call torture." — Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch.

May God and the people of the world forgive us.

[Nitrogenica]

1. With his logic, if we executed people with no trial, and were not attacked,

then that is proof executing people works.

That doesn't make it right, or prove the reason why we haven't been attacked.

[opihimoimoi]

2. There is no OBJECTIVE REASONING nor LOGIC in the Shrub...Mostly ole BS CRAP

Empty language from an EMPTY MIND..his GOP Base is mostly Lemmings weaned on le Sugar coatings the GOP uses...

[gulliver]

3. Liberals calling Bush "The Torture President" only help Bush

Bush is just the lying, sack of crap, asleep-at-the-switch, idiot president. People who are regarded as weak-kneed on defense calling Bush "The Torture President" simply play into his and the GOP's hands.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. Google gives me 8,610 hits for "torture president". - and guess who it is?

.
.
.

GWB

Check it out

Newsvine - "The Torture President"President Bush has vetoed a bill that would specifically ban waterboarding and limit the CIA to nineteen techniques that are approved in the Army Field ...
matthewperlegis.newsvine.com/_news/2008/03/08/1352663-the-torture-president - 2 hours ago - Similar pages

570News - Bush vetoes bill that would ban CIA from using ...Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch, said Bush "will go down in history as the torture president" for defying Congress ...
www.570news.com/news/international/article.jsp?content=w030869A - 1 hour ago - Similar pages

George W. Bush Torture President | Article Discovery PoliticsGeorge W. Bush has locked up his legacy of being the United States only in favor of and supporter of torture president. Bush has vetoed a bill that would ...
www.articlediscovery.com/blog/2008/03/09/george-w-bush-torture-president/ - 1 hour ago - Similar pages

The Torture President - A Work in ProgressThe Torture President. When history looks back at what this president ... Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: The Torture President. ...
www.robertkbrown.com/2008/03/the_torture_president.html - 5 hours ago - Similar pages


http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%22torture+president%22&meta=

[gulliver]

5. Yep. Bush loves it.

You can't attack him from the front on it. That's what he wants. He loves it when some left wing group calls him the Torture President. It gives him "cred" with dimwits, hyenas, and yahoos--a hell of a lot of people in ignorant-ized, death-spiraling America.

Accepting waterboarding is just another of Bush's many "outside-the-box" stupid ideas that damage America. Bush has outside-the-box ideas not because he is bold, but because he has no clue about inside-the-box ideas. He's nothing but a loose cannon. If he happens to shoot a hole in America's human rights reputation, that's just one of many.

He's not the Torture President. That way under-charges him.

[frebrd]

6. Not to worry, George, your legacy of brutality and lawlessness is absolutely assured. n/t