Things may be looking up. Sometimes it is hard to be hopeful about national politics. The past week, for example, saw the Bush Terrorism Initiative, that may put Democrats on the defensive. But there are a few stories in the news that show that Republicans may be helping the Democrats (and the nation) to do better. A Washington Post story is headlined, "Decision to Move Detainees Resolved Two-Year Debate Among Bush Advisers," By Dafna Linzer and Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writers, Friday, September 8, 2006. Quoting from the story, The arrival of the prisoners, witnessed by few beyond the CIA officers accompanying them, marked the end of a five-year effort by the Bush administration to conceal as many as 100 al-Qaeda suspects from the world and to shield the agency's interrogation tactics and facilities from public scrutiny. It was also the result of nearly two years of debate within the Bush White House, touched off by a personal plea from British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the release of British citizens in U.S. custody.
The debate divided the president's key advisers and kept open the CIA's "black sites" until President Bush himself, under the advice of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ordered the facilities emptied for now, and possibly for good.
Republican Senators, also should get some positive recognition for their support for fundamental American values. The Senate Armed Services Committee work on a bill setting up military tribunals to try detainees shows a commendable committment to basic constitutional legal rights. The Guardian Unlimited calls it a Republican revolt. According to the New York Times, from which I quote,
Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said “90 percent” of the proposal that the White House submitted this week reflected a proposal that he and other Republican senators who have taken the lead on the question had drafted over the summer.
In addition to) Mr. Warner, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, maintain that they can work with the administration to resolve the differences, but they showed few signs of yielding on the disputed questions. “The determination simply has to be made on what flexibility the administration wants to show,” Mr. Warner said.
Senators Olympia Snow, R-Maine, and Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, supported the release of a key portion of a pending Senate Intelligence Committee report finding no connection between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda. An article in The Washington Post, reveals that Republicans can still support the truth in the face of an intransigent administration. Quote,
The partial release of the report came after nearly three years of partisan wrangling over what is to be a five-chapter analysis of the use of prewar intelligence in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The heart of the report -- a detailed comparison of administration statements with the intelligence then available -- is far from release. But the committee voted Thursday to release two chapters, one on the role that Iraqi exiles played in shaping prewar intelligence, the other on the accuracy of the prewar analyses of Hussein's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capabilities and his suspected links to al-Qaeda and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
White House spokesman Tony Snow dismissed the findings as old news. "If we have people who want to re-litigate that, that's fine," he said.
But Republican attempts to paint the findings as a partisan rehash were undercut by intelligence committee members from the GOP. The committee report's conclusions are based on the Democrats' findings because two Republicans -- Sens. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.) -- supported those findings.
Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed a vote on acting UN Ambassador John Bolton. Republican senators may have been helpful in the possible removal of John Bolton as UN Ambassador. Steve Clemons, at The Washington Note, reports that Senators Lincoln Chaffee, R-Rhode Island, wrote a letter of objection to Secretary of State Rice. Clemons writes that he has it on good authority that "the nomination is dead," at TPM Cafe.
Tags: Republicans politics News Senate Bush Terrorism Current Affairs Republicans
My "creative post" today at Southwest Blogger is about history's mysteries.
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