Vice President Dick Cheney has been making the rounds in Congress, trying to get the CIA exempted from the ban on torture working it's way through congress right now. This, combined with the recent revelations of secret prisons in eastern Europe seem strangely suspicious regarding Cheney's motives. Here's an excerpt from the Washington Post.

In recent months, Cheney has been the force against adding safeguards to the Defense Department's rules on treatment of military prisoners, putting him at odds with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England. On a trip to Canada last month, Rice interrupted a packed itinerary to hold a secure video-teleconference with Cheney on detainee policy to make sure no decisions were made without her input.

Just last week, Cheney showed up at a Republican senatorial luncheon to lobby lawmakers for a CIA exemption to an amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would ban torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners. The exemption would cover the CIA's covert "black sites" in several Eastern European democracies and other countries where key al Qaeda captives are being kept.

Despite these pushes, the administration also continues to state the U.S. doesn't torture. The president is in Panama today and was forced to deal with the issue. The AP quoted him saying:

"There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again," Bush said. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law."

He declared, "We do not torture."

I think there two big issues going on. One is the whole issue of torture. The United States has been caught with the pants down doing things our country is supposed to be better than.

The other thing is it's anothe example of how the administration has lost almost complete control of the agenda, which is an absolute if one wants to get anything done. While it's true voters have short memories, these problems aren't going to go away over night. Alito won't see hearings until January. The Libby thing, depending on how it's timed, could do real damage and then there's the Tom Delay issue. He's been indicted yet the Republicans in this House are paralyzed, just on the chance he might come back. The longer they wait, the tougher it will be for them to be effective in the next election.

posted by Stithmeister @ 1:50 PM
 
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