Bush Asks Republicans to Back Terror Bills; Powell Lobbies Against The President

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WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary Powell endorsed efforts to block President Bush’s plan to authorize harsh interrogations of terror suspects, even as Mr. Bush lobbied personally for it Thursday on Capitol Hill.

The latest sign of Republican division over White House security policy came in a letter that Mr. Powell sent to Senator McCain one of three rebellious senators taking on the White House. Mr. Powell said Congress must not pass Mr. Bush’s proposal to redefine American compliance with the Geneva Conventions, a treaty that sets international standards for the treatment of prisoners of war.

This development accompanied Mr. Bush’s visit to Capitol Hill, where he conferred behind closed doors with House Republicans. His plan would narrow the American legal interpretation of the Geneva Conventions treaty in a bid to allow tougher interrogations and shield American personnel from being prosecuted for war crimes.

“The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism,” said Mr. Powell, who served under Mr. Bush and is a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk.”

Republican dissatisfaction with the administration’s security proposals is becoming more prominent as the midterm election season has arrived. The Bush White House wants Congress to approve greater executive power to spy on, imprison and interrogate terrorism suspects.

Leaving his closed-door meeting with the House GOP caucus, Mr. Bush said he would “continue to work with members of the Congress to get good legislation.”

“I reminded them that the most important job of government is to protect the homeland,” he told reporters after the session. Mr. Bush was accompanied to the Hill by Vice President Cheney and White House adviser Karl Rove.

For Mr. Bush, the election season visit capped a week of high-profile administration pressure to rescue bills mired in turf battles and privacy concerns. It also gave GOP leaders a chance to press for loyalty among Republicans confronted on the campaign trail by war-weary voters.

“I have not really seen anybody running away from the president,” House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters this week when asked about the caucus’ split. “Frankly, I think that would be a bad idea.”

Mr. Bush was expected to ask for support for two key pieces of legislation he says are crucial to preventing terrorist attacks. One would meet CIA demands that Congress reinterpret the nation’s treaty obligations to allow tougher interrogations of detainees, but it’s snagged in the Senate between the leadership and a trio of powerful Republicans.

At nearly the same time Mr. Bush met with House Republicans, Senator Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Thursday was asking his panel to finish an alternative to the White House plan to prosecute terror suspects and redefine acts that constitute war crimes.

The White House on Thursday said the alternate approach was unacceptable because it would force the CIA to end a program of using forceful interrogation methods with suspected terrorists.

“The president will not accept something that shuts the program down,” presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.

Mr. Warner believes the administration proposal would lower the standard for the treatment of prisoners, potentially putting American troops at risk should other countries retaliate.

Mr. McCain and Senator Graham have joined Mr. Warner in opposing Mr. Bush’s bill.

The administration didn’t allow such a direct challenge to pass without criticism. On Wednesday, the White House arranged for a conference call with reporters so National Intelligence Director John Negroponte could argue that Warner’s proposal would undermine the nation’s ability to interrogate prisoners.

“If this draft legislation were passed in its present form, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency has told me that he did not believe that the (interrogation) program could go forward,” Mr. Negroponte said.

Senator Cornyn who supports the administration, said he did not think the Bush plan would endanger American troops because Al Qaeda doesn’t take prisoners. “The prisoners they do take they behead,” he said.

The other bill Mr. Bush is pushing would give legal status to the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. It was approved on a party-line vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, but is stalled in the House amid staunch opposition from Democrats and some Republicans concerned that the program violates civil liberties.

The atmospherics Thursday stood in stark contrast to Mr. Bush’s visit to the same group in July 2002, amid debate over a trade agreement and brisk legislative momentum for his war on terrorism.


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