Rusted Sky

The AP takes the President's speech today (which you can read for yourself here), and morphs it into a supposed admission of guilt.

Power Line: Misreporting the News, Again

So the AP's headline and lead paragraph, suggesting that the President made some sort of guilty admission, are misleading at best. The President's endorsement of the CIA's program was aggressive and effective, but few Americans will learn about it beyond the handful who watched the speech as it was delivered.

The real news that came out of the speech was that the 14 high-ranking terrorists now in CIA custody will be transferred to Guantanamo for criminal prosecution, and that the administration is asking Congress to pass comprehensive legislation authorizing military tribunals and protecting American servicemen and CIA employees from prosecution or lawsuits arising out of their interrogations of captured terrorists.

This is, in large part, a response to the unfortunate Hamdan decision. From a political standpoint, though, the Left won't be happy about the return of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Zubaydah, et al. to the front pages; nor will Democrats in Congress relish having to vote on a vital issue of national security between now and November.

It would almost seem like they keep thinking "Now? Now? NOW will you see what an evil rotten bastard Bush is, and how he's violating YOUR civil rights, and turn him out in the street?" The story never changes. No facts that contradict the official line will be reported.

I've got no problems with the bad guys being put in jail. Or interrogated. Or held in 'secret' prisons. And I doubt the AP does either - but their idea of who the bad guys are and mine don't seem to mesh.

J.