Det bygger seg opp en motstand mot Bush-administrasjonens vilkårlige omgang med menneskretter og lov og rett. Fire republikanske senatorer nektet å gi ham de fullmaktene han ville ha i retterganger mot «illegal combatants». Den sterkeste kritikken kom fra Colin Powell.

Mr. Bush said after conferring with Republican House members that he had «reminded them that the most important job of government is to protect the homeland.» As part of his plan, the president wants Congress to enact legislation that would authorize tougher interrogations of suspected terrorists.

And that is what Congress must not do, said Colin L. Powell, the former secretary of state. «The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism,» Mr. Powell said in a letter to Senator John McCain of Arizona, one of the Republicans who differ with Mr. Bush’s policies.

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Four of the panel’s 13 Republicans joined all 11 Democrats in rejecting Mr. Bush’s proposal to keep defendants from seeing classified evidence against them

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The measure that the panel endorsed and sent to the Senate floor would let suspects see evidence against them and would bar statements obtained through torture or coercion.

Kongressen er ved å gjenreise USAs moralske autoritet. Fangebehandlingen og alle de hemmelige programmene tærer på den demokratiske kapitalen.

Det er interessant at Colin Powell nå er rådgiver for John McCain.

kilde: nytimes