I Have A Headache

No, really. With a fever. Which is why I blame a micro-organism.

If I just had a headache, I could blame it on today's press briefing by Tony Snow, trying to explain why former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Colin Powell is opposed to the proposed legislation on detainee treatment, along with three important Republican Senators.

Q So do you think that Colin Powell, a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is just confused about what you're trying to do?

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q And you think that he would write a letter like this without an understanding --

MR. SNOW: I don't know -- it's interesting -- we didn't hear from him, so I don't know.

Q So you think that John McCain and Senator Warner and Lindsey Graham are confused about what you're trying to do?

MR. SNOW: I think what's -- no, but there's a difference here, because what -- there's a difference and there's an opportunity. The assertion that we are trying to amend or change Common Article III is wrong. And I think it's worth saying to everybody, no, we're not trying to change anything; we're trying to figure out what it means. That's what the Supreme Court -- that is the burden the Supreme Court laid before the Congress of the United States and the White House. And you need to work collaboratively with it.

There has been no suggestion that we amend or alter Common Article III. In fact, we thought we found a pretty good standard, which was the Detainee Treatment Act standard that was adopted by Congress and people subjected it to rigorous review. So that's the important point. And I think -- let me put it this way -- we think that the approach we take not only addresses the concerns that are expressed by General Powell and General Vessey. And again, we had no conversations with them; we don't know what they had seen, and I'll let them speak for themselves on this.

But the whole purpose of this is to make sure that we place our troops out of harm's way, and also the people who are doing the interrogations, by making clear what the standards are. This is not an attempt to subject detainees to lawlessness. It's an attempt to try to codify in law exactly what the rules and boundaries are.

Q Well, how do you account for the fact that three Republican senators oppose you so vehemently on this?

MR. SNOW: It's a free country, you're allowed to oppose -- and what I'm suggesting is that there are still ongoing conversations and I wouldn't prejudge.

David.

Q Let me follow up. This can be complicated, so let's get down to the facts here. The legislation that the President has proposed seeks to make Article III clear, less vague, by defining --

MR. SNOW: No, it seeks to --

Q Let me just finish my point. I'm laying this out and you tell me if it's not right. Limiting the U.S. interpretation of Article III to defining as a war crime "cruel and inhumane treatment," therefore, excluding the vague language you talked about -- "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment" as a violation of the War Crimes Act --

MR. SNOW: That also falls -- all of that falls within -- we want all of that to be defined within the parameters of Common Article III, and to do that, what you use is the language from the Detainee Treatment Act, which covers all of those phrases.

Q You want to exclude that portion --

MR. SNOW: No, we don't want to exclude anything. No.

Q You don't?

MR. SNOW: No.

Q So how is it captured then? It's just captured under the more --

MR. SNOW: It's captured by saying --

Q -- tighter definition of "cruel and inhumane"?

MR. SNOW: It says that these terms henceforth will be defined under the terms that were laid out -- let me put it this way: You define it by saying, the practices that were prohibited by the Detainee Treatment Act will henceforth be prohibited because they're interpreted as violating Common Article III. That will be the subset of activities Article III.

Q The critics of this, Republicans that you've talked about, think that you are seeking to alter Article III, because you are, in effect, lowering the standards of Article III by the elimination of this language.

MR. SNOW: No, it's a straw man. As a matter of fact, what we're trying to do is we're trying to reach out and work with them to come up with the issues.

There are two things going on, David. There is one proposal that says, here's what the law is, and if you break it you won't get punished by American authorities. What we're saying is, no, you can't do that. In a law, what you have to do is to say, these activities are illegal. That's what laws do. And so, what we thought -- and again, I don't think this should be terribly controversial -- is we went back, for the purposes of defining what falls within Common Article III and the kinds of things that will be prohibited, we went back to the Detainee Treatment Act and Senator McCain's own formulation from a year ago.

Q Right. But in your attempt to redefine it --

MR. SNOW: No, it's to define it.

Q Well, right, but that's your interpretation of it. But you're defining it in a way that does not address "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating --

MR. SNOW: Sure, it does.

Q -- and degrading treatment" because you find that to be vague?

MR. SNOW: No, all of it is vague, and therefore, what you do is you try to provide some clarity by saying, here are the subset of behaviors that we think fall under those terms.

I think we're talking past each other here --

Q No, I don't -- you're certainly talking past the people who oppose you. And so maybe you can help the country understand, because I can't imagine this is clear.

MR. SNOW: Okay, well, I don't even understand the question. What exactly is it --

Q You claim -- all right, I'll restate the question. You claim that you are not redefining --

MR. SNOW: Right. Look at this --

Q -- Article III. Everyone who opposes you on this, from Secretary Powell, to Senator Warner, to Senator Graham, to Senator McCain, says, in effect, you are trying to redefine it by excluding language you consider vague that they think is actually important.

MR. SNOW: No, no, no -- oh, thank you, thank you. No, no, that's -- okay, thank you. No, we're not excluding it. We're defining what that language means, so, heart be still. No, the fact is the language is vague, and so nobody knows exactly what would be prohibited or not prohibited under it.

And we're saying, no, here are the things that ought to be prohibited under it. And that's an important point, and I'm glad you asked, because I didn't quite understand. We're saying that the language is vague, and therefore you define it by putting together the proper framework for saying, I'm sorry, if you do this, you're guilty of cruel and inhumane treatment -- or cruel and degrading treatment. You are in violation of Common Article III if you do the following, and the following are the things that are specified in the Detainee Treatment Act.

Q You do not address -- you do not address the language that you think is vague, which is in Article III now, which has to do with outrages --

MR. SNOW: No, you do. No -- I don't know how I can make it clearer. What you do is you say --

Q I hope you can, Tony. You may think I just don't get it, but, I mean --

MR. SNOW: Well, I do. And here's the --

Q Well, let me suggest to you that if I don't get it, then I bet there's a lot of people who don't get it, as well.

The administration's problem isn't that people are confused about what they are trying to do, it's that people are perfectly clear about it, and know that it's wrong. Frankly, it's Tony and the administration who seem confused.

Bob Herbert ties it to a larger trend:

The invasion of Iraq marked the beginning of the change in the American character. During the Cuban missile crisis, when the hawks were hot for bombing — or an invasion — Robert Kennedy counseled against a U.S. first strike. That’s not something the U.S. would do, he said.

Fast-forward 40 years or so and not only does the U.S. launch an unprovoked invasion and occupation of a small nation — Iraq — but it does so in response to an attack inside the U.S. that the small nation had nothing to do with.

Who are we?

Another example: There was a time, I thought, when there was general agreement among Americans that torture was beyond the pale. But when people are frightened enough, nothing is beyond the pale. And we’re in an era in which the highest leaders in the land stoke — rather than attempt to allay — the fears of ordinary citizens. Islamic terrorists are equated with Nazi Germany. We’re told that we’re in a clash of civilizations.

If, as President Bush says, we’re engaged in “the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century,” why isn’t the entire nation mobilizing to meet this dire threat?

The president put us on this path away from the better angels of our nature, and he has shown no inclination to turn back. Lately he has touted legislation to try terror suspects in a way that would make a mockery of the American ideals of justice and fairness. To get a sense of just how far out the administration’s approach has been, consider the comments of Brig. Gen. James Walker, the top uniformed lawyer for the Marines. Speaking at a Congressional hearing last week, he said no civilized country denies defendants the right to see the evidence against them. The United States, he said, “should not be the first.”