Senate panel rejects Bush anti-terrorism plan

Ripples on campaign season
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.

Amplifying Bush’s threat to block the committee’s plan, White House spokesman Snow said, “The president will not accept something that shuts the program down” for interrogating detainees. His comments came a day after National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told reporters that the Senate plan would be likely to end the CIA interrogation and detention program.

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.

McCain, a leader on the issue of treatment of detainees, 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.

'Protect the homeland'
“I reminded them that the most important job of government is to protect the homeland,” he said. Bush was accompanied by Vice President Dick 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 bill 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 opposition from Democrats and some Republicans concerned that the program violates civil liberties.

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