Olbermann: Bush's 'rush' to redefine Geneva Conventions may be mostly about 'covering his own backside'

Olbermann: Bush's 'rush' to redefine Geneva Conventions may be mostly about 'covering his own backside' | David Edwards | Published: Saturday September 16, 2006 | Raw story

Keith Olbermann's Friday broadcast on MSNBC featured a long look at the President's contentious Rose Garden press conference on Friday, dubbing it the "Roast Garden," and then pondered whether Bush's urgency to redefine the Geneva Convention had more to do with "covering his own backside" than anything else.

At a Friday press conference, an animated President Bush tells reporters that the U.S. program to interrogate terrorist suspects will not continue unless Congress creates new legal definitions for Common Article 3 or the Geneva Conventions -- a move that has alarmed some GOP senators and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
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Afterward, Georgetown University Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley joined Keith Olbermann for a discussion on why the president was in such a hurry to get the legislation passed "his way."

Turley agreed with Olbermann that Bush's primary motive might be in "covering his own backside."

Turley noted that the 14 high level detainees recently transferred to Guantanamo Bay are due to be interviewed by the Red Cross, and that "most people believe that they will reveal that they were subject to water boarding - held under water until you think that you are going to drown - that is undeniably torture under the international standard."

"I think that the Administration senses that there is a lot of trouble coming down the mountain," said Turley. ...