Not So Fast, King George...

Yesterday, President Bush, in full-on political mode, gave a speech which confirmed the CIA's secret torture prisons, noted key terrorist suspects were being transferred from them to Guantanamo, stated his intentions to hold his own brand of trials for them there (despite this being rejected by the Supreme Court), and asked the Republican Congress to rubberstamp all of that. The move was intended to force a partisan debate on the war on terror which he believed will play to his, and the Republicans', benefit.

However, he is facing criticism from not only key Republicans, but within the military too-

U.S. military lawyers on Thursday challenged President George W. Bush's plan to try terrorism suspects, including the accused September 11 mastermind, as Democrats charged the White House with election-year fearmongering...

...Pentagon lawyers balked at Bush's proposal to limit the terrorism suspects' access to evidence.

"I'm not aware of any situation in the world where there is a system of jurisprudence that is recognized by civilized people where an individual can be tried and convicted without seeing the evidence against him," Brig. Gen. James Walker, U.S. Marine Corps staff judge advocate told a Congressional hearing.

Bush was forced to find a new way to try foreigners suspected of terrorism after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the tribunal system his administration created. Most of the suspects were captured in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay...

...Many congressional Democrats, and even a few Republicans, are uncomfortable with the tough rules Bush wants for the military trials. But with the fate of suspects like [Khalid Sheikh] Mohammed at stake, the White House hopes to make it politically harder to oppose Bush...

The President hopes his new 'You are either with the GOP or with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed' strategy will trump the criticism.

Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan dug through the speech and found many lies. The first-

Then there is the president's second untruth about who actually has been detained at Gitmo and elsewhere:

"It's important for Americans and others across the world to understand the kind of people held at Guantanamo. These aren't common criminals, or bystanders accidentally swept up on the battlefield - we have in place a rigorous process to ensure those held at Guantanamo Bay belong at Guantanamo."

Again, as has been exhaustively documented, this is false. Dozens of Gitmo detainees have been released with no charges brought against them, just as the U.S. concedes that up to 90 percent of those jailed at Abu Ghraib were innocent. Read this op-ed about just one man detained for four years at Gitmo, even though the administration conceded he was innocent... That's the "rigorous process" the president spoke of yesterday. It doesn't exist - and never has.

And the second-

It's right there in the president's speech yesterday: once again, baldly stated, as if saying it more categorically makes it true:

"I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our values. I have not authorized it - and I will not authorize it."

There is no other way to say it. On one of the gravest moral matters before the country, this president is knowingly stating an untruth... But we know - and the enemy knows - what the techniques are... Far, far worse has been done to detainees in less closely monitored "interrogations" in Afghanistan, Iraq and in the secret sites (now admitted) in Eastern Europe. (Yes, Dana, you deserve your Pulitzer.) Dozens of corpses are the result of the president's "safe and lawful" interrogation methods... The president is asking the Congress to establish this in law. Yes, this is America.

More lies documented here- BUSH LIES ABOUT RAMZI BIN AL SHIBH, ABU ZUBAYDAH AND TORTURE.

Finally, on a related note, reports indicate that Republicans are torn whether or not to rubberstamp the President's warrantless wiretapping.

The President may win this political fight, but the real loser is our nation's dignity.