Senate panel defies Bush on terror

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_go_co/bush_congress_25

By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 44 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A rebellious Senate committee defied President Bush
on Thursday and approved terror-detainee legislation he has vowed to
block, deepening Republican conflict over terrorism and national
security in the middle of the election season.

Republican Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record) of Virginia,
normally a Bush supporter, pushed the measure through his Armed
Services Committee by a 15-9 vote, with Warner and three other GOP
lawmakers joining Democrats. The vote set the stage for a showdown on
the Senate floor as early as next week.

In an embarrassment to the White House, Colin Powell - Bush's
first secretary of state - announced his opposition to his old boss'
plan, saying it would hurt the country. Powell's successor, Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, jumped to the president's defense in
a letter of her own.

All this played out after Bush started his day by journeying to the
Capitol to try nailing down support for his own version of the
legislation - and by issuing a threat to the maverick Republicans.

"I will resist any bill that does not enable this program to go forward
with legal clarity," Bush said at the White House.

The president's measure would go further than the Senate package in
allowing classified evidence to be withheld from defendants in terror
trials, using coerced testimony and protecting CIA and other
U.S. interrogators against prosecution for using methods that may
violate the Geneva Conventions.

"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against
terrorism," Powell, a retired general who is also a former chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in his letter.

Powell said Bush's bill, by redefining the kind of treatment the Geneva
Conventions allow, "would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would
put our own troops at risk."

Firing back, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Powell was "confused"
about the White House plan. Later, Snow said he probably shouldn't have
used that word.

"I know that Colin Powell wants to beat the terrorists, too," he said.

The administration also produced its own letter from Rice. She wrote
that narrowing the standards for detainee treatment as Bush has
proposed "would add meaningful definition and clarification to vague
terms in the treaties."

In addition, CIA Director Michael Hayden wrote a letter to his
employees saying he has asked Congress "to help define our
responsibilities so that we and the Department of Justice can
judge the appropriateness of any procedures we would propose to use"
while questioning terrorism suspects. He said Bush's bill did that.

In the committee vote, Warner was supported by GOP Sens. McCain of
Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine.
Warner, McCain and Graham had been the most active senators opposing
Bush's plan. The vote by the moderate Collins underscored that there
might be broad enough GOP support to successfully take on Bush on the
floor of the Republican-run Senate.

As the battle mushrooms, it threatens to undermine campaign season
assertions by the administration that it has shown a steady hand on
security matters and that Republicans should be trusted over Democrats
on such issues.

Bush still has many congressional allies, including House and Senate
leaders and conservatives, who want to align themselves with the
president's tough stance on interrogation and prosecution. The House
Armed Services Committee on Wednesday passed a bill that supports the
administration's position by 52-8.

But that support is not universal. Rep. Steve Buyer (news, bio, voting
record), R-Ind., said he told Bush during the president's visit that he
should heed the military's top uniformed lawyers, who have previously
opposed some provisions of the president's plan.

Buyer and other Republicans are expected to align themselves with
McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war during
Vietnam. Last year, he overcame Bush's objections to pass legislation
banning cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees.

Leaving his closed-door meeting with the House GOP caucus, Bush said he
would "continue to work with members of the Congress to get good
legislation." He complimented a House bill but did not mention the
Senate version.

"I reminded them that the most important job of government is to
protect the homeland," he said. Bush was accompanied by Vice President
*** Cheney and White House political adviser Karl Rove.

The White House also released a letter to lawmakers signed by the
military's top uniformed lawyers. Saying they wanted to clarify past
testimony on Capitol Hill in which they opposed the administration's
plan, the lawyers wrote that they "do not object" to sections of Bush's
proposal for the treatment of detainees.

Two congressional aides who favor McCain's plan said the military
lawyers signed that letter after refusing to endorse an earlier one
offered by the Pentagon's general counsel, William Haynes, that
expressed more forceful support for Bush's plan.

The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Asked if Haynes had
encouraged them to write the letter, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman
said, "Not that I'm aware of."

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

__

Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Katherine Shrader contributed
to this report.

.