Bush loses big on Guantánamo (cont'd)
From Tim Golden in today's New York Times:
Golden reports that some administration officials had argued that the government should craft its rules for Guantánamo detentions to conform with Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. However, David Addington, Dick Cheney's present chief of staff -- and the real brains behind the administration's executive power-grab -- is said to have prevailed against the forces for good.
The Defense Department [asserted on Thursday] that the court's sweeping ruling against the tribunals did not undermine the government's argument that it can hold foreign suspects indefinitely and without charge, as "enemy combatants" in its declared war on terror.
Privately, though, some administration officials involved in detention policy — along with many critics of that policy — were skeptical that Guantánamo could or would go about its business as before. "It appears to be about as broad a holding as you could imagine," said one administration lawyer, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the ruling. "It's very broad, it's very significant, and it's a slam."
According to The New Yorker's Jane Mayer, who this week offers a telling portrait of the vice president's capo, former Secretary of State Colin Powell had some choice words for Addington, which he confided to colleagues who joined him for a Redskins game last December.
During the game, between the Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, Powell spoke of a recent report in the Times which revealed that President Bush, in his pursuit of terrorists, had secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens without first obtaining a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, as required by federal law.
[...]
According to someone who knows Powell, his comment about the article was terse. “It’s Addington,” he said. “He doesn’t care about the Constitution.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MAYER IN THE NEW YORKER
CLICK HERE TO READ GOLDEN IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
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