Why admit the existence of these prisons now? Is he diffusing another New York Times exposé?
President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged previously secret CIA prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects - including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks - have been transferred from the system to Guantanamo Bay for trials.
He said a small number of detainees have been kept in CIA custody including people responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the 2001 attacks. |
Send the bad guys to Gitmo, that should be OK, but by admitting the procedures we use to keep this country secure you open yourself up to these kinds of comments from the lunatic left.
[...] The announcement from Bush was the first time the administration had acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which have been a source of friction between Washington and some allies in Europe. The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees. European Union lawmakers said the CIA was conducting clandestine flights in Europe to take terror suspects to countries where they could face torture.
"Today the administration finally recognized that the protections of the Geneva Convention should be applied to prisoners in order to restore our moral authority and best protect American troops," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Today's shift in policy follows the sad legacy of five years during which this administration abused our Constitution, violated our laws and most importantly failed to make America safe." |
Now some will argue that letting the moonbats like Kerry, Murtha, and Pelosi in front of the microphones is rarely ever a bad thing. There's truth to that. They continue to expose themselves as weak on the GWOT. They'd bow to foreign pressures and place international treaties ahead of the national security. Most Americans will hopefully see that, recognize the weasel that's speaking, and vote against them. But at what point does the flood of negative information drown any positive messaage. Just look at Kerry's message above. Nevermind that terrorists aren't protected by the Geneva Convention. It makes for a nice sound bit though, and puts psueddo-egg on the face of the Republicans. Nevermind that the NSA wiretapping/terrorist surveillance program was an huge asset in the GWOT. The Democrats made students and soccer moms across the nation paranoid that their cell phone calls about dinner plans and study groups were being recorded.
So Dubya, why are the laundry now? How is any of this a new story anyway? The WaPo tried to break this story back in December, shortly after the NYT exposed to TSP. This does nothing but continue to weaken our national security.
Defending the prison program, the president said the questioning of these detainees has provided critical intelligence information about terrorist activities that has enabled officials to prevent attacks, including with airplanes, within the United States. Other attacks thwarted through intelligence gathered in the program include a planned strike with an explosives-laden water tanker on U.S. Marines at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, an attack with car and motorcycle bombs on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, and a plot to fly passenger planes into London's Heathrow Airport or Canary Wharf, Bush said.
Bush would not detail interrogation techniques used through the program, saying only that they are tough but do not constitute torture. He did use language that suggested its nature, saying the CIA turned to an "alternative set of procedures" that were successful after Zubaydah and others had stopped providing information.
"This program has helped us to take potential mass murderers off the streets before they have a chance to kill," the president said. |
I'm glad you're out there trying to drum up support for the GWOT and all its fronts, so I'll say hopefully this diffuses any media explosion that may have occurred if you had not brought the situation to light.
Hey, at least you know the government's trying to do it job and protest us. |
