Facing revolt, Bush defends terror proposals

WASHINGTON - Faced with a revolt by some fellow Republicans over treatment of foreign terrorism suspects, President Bush on Friday vigorously defended his strategy at a press conference.

“The enemy wants to attack us again,” he said in urging Congress to pass controversial legislation to detain, interrogate and try suspects in the war against terrorism.

“Time is running out,” Bush said from the White House Rose Garden. “Congress needs to act wisely and promptly.”

Senate GOP leaders will call for a vote on the proposal as early as next week. Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell said no decision had been made on when to vote on the measure, which critics say does not go far enough to protect suspects’ rights. He added that he hoped a floor vote would settle the issue.

Bush denied that the United States might lose the high ground in the eyes of world opinion, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested on Thursday.

“It’s unacceptable to think there’s any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective,” said Bush, growing animated as he spoke.

“If not for this (anti-terror) program, our intelligence community believes al-Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland,” he said.

“Unfortunately the recent Supreme Court decision put the future of this program in question. ... We need this legislation to save it.”

The high court earlier this year struck down Bush’s current arrangement for trying detainees held at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Battle on the Hill
Bush’s comments came a day after Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee broke with the administration and approved a rival bill for detention and trial of foreign terrorism suspects. Bush claims the measure would compromise the war on terrorism.

He is urging the Senate to pass a bill more like a House-passed one that would allow his administration to continue holding and trying terror suspects before military tribunals.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 15-9 on Thursday to endorse an alternative bill by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain that would protect the rights of foreign terrorism suspects.

McCain, Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner and South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham made up the core of the rebellion against Bush. Eleven Democrats on the Armed Services Committee joined them as well as Maine Republican Susan Collins in voting in favor of the alternative legislation.

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.

Powell, Bush's previous secretary of state, said in a letter to McCain that Bush’s proposal to redefine the Geneva Conventions would encourage the world to “doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism” and “put our own troops at risk.”

McConnell, R-Ky., is expected to champion Bush’s proposal on the floor. “We know (the program) has worked. We know it has saved lives. And we know the director of the CIA said that under the alternative bill, that program will have to be shut down.”

Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he supports the Senate approach championed by McCain and others because it would be less likely to be challenged by the Supreme Court as unlawful and violating the nation’s treaty obligations. He voted this week in favor of a committee bill that supports the administration’s position to “move the process along,” but said he will attempt to amend the measure when the bill reaches the floor next week.

“I don’t want to give any terrorist a free pass or get-out-of-jail-free card,” Skelton said.

Shortly after Bush went to Capitol Hill on Thursday, the Senate committee approved its own bill, which it said would meet demands made by the Supreme Court in striking down Bush’s original plan.

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