White House Aims to Block Legislation on Detainees (Cheney at the helm)

[rodeodance]

So, this is what cheney is up to!!!! saying the law would upsurp Jr's power. cheney wants to keep what he/jr has.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/22/AR2005072201727.html
White House Aims to Block Legislation on Detainees

By Josh White and R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 23, 2005; Page A01

The Bush administration in recent days has been lobbying to block legislation supported by Republican senators that would bar the U.S. military from engaging in "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of detainees, from hiding prisoners from the Red Cross, and from using interrogation methods not authorized by a new Army field manual.

Vice President Cheney met Thursday evening with three senior Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to press the administration's case that legislation on these matters would usurp the president's authority and -- in the words of a White House official -- interfere with his ability "to protect Americans effectively from terrorist attack."



Vice President Cheney told GOP senators that legislation regulating the treatment of detainees would usurp presidential authority. (AP)
Vice President Cheney told GOP senators that legislation regulating the treatment of detainees would usurp presidential authority. (By Mike Derer -- Associated Press)


It was the second time that Cheney has met with Senate members to tamp down what the White House views as an incipient Republican rebellion. The lawmakers have publicly expressed frustration about what they consider to be the administration's failure to hold any senior military officials responsible for notorious detainee abuse in Iraq and the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

This week's session was attended by Armed Services Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) and committee members John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.). Warner and Graham last week chaired hearings that explored detainee abuse and interrogation tactics at Guantanamo Bay and the concerns of senior military lawyers that vague administration policies have left the door open to abuse.

Neither Cheney's office nor the lawmakers would say exactly what was discussed at the meeting, citing a routine pledge of confidentiality. But Cheney has long been the administration's chief defender of presidential prerogatives, and at the meeting he reiterated opposition to congressional intervention on the topic of detainee interrogations, according to a source privy to what happened.
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[Moderator]

1. Duplicate

same story different title

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1647269