Double Talk
So… after bending to the enormous pressure from Congress, and from the American people, President Bush finally signed McKain’s anti torture legislation into law.
Then, without any fanfare, he quietly jerked the teeth out of the new law.
After approving the bill last Friday, Bush issued a ”signing statement” — an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law — declaring that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. This means Bush believes he can waive the restrictions, the White House and legal specialists said.
…
David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive power issues, said that the signing statement means that Bush believes he can still authorize harsh interrogation tactics when he sees fit.
”The signing statement is saying ‘I will only comply with this law when I want to, and if something arises in the war on terrorism where I think it’s important to torture or engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading conduct, I have the authority to do so and nothing in this law is going to stop me,’ ” he said. ”They don’t want to come out and say it directly because it doesn’t sound very nice, but it’s unmistakable to anyone who has been following what’s going on.”
Not only is the President reserving the right to torture prisoners at his own discretion, but he’s thumbing his nose at our country’s longstanding belief in due process.
The signing statement also advanced the administration’s view that the McCain amendment does not provide for any court review of a prisoner’s claim of cruel treatment, and that all appeals by foreign prisoners before the courts should be dismissed.
If there was ever any doubt that this president wants to torture people, this lays that to rest once and for all.
If there was ever any doubt that this president is willing to decieve the American people in order to do whatever he wants, even if the majority of the country disagrees with him…
Well there’s no doubt about that now either.
Click here to listen to an interview with political scientist Andy Rudalevige about the use of the signing statement.
