WASHINGTON — After threatening the first veto of the Bush presidency over efforts to outlaw the torture of military prisoners, the White House has backed away from a showdown and is now seeking a compromise with Congress.
A White House spokesman said Saturday that national security advisor Stephen Hadley had met three times over the last month -- most recently Thursday night -- with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chief sponsor of an amendment setting new restrictions on U.S. treatment of war prisoners.
A McCain aide confirmed that the subject of those talks was the anti-torture amendment, which passed the Senate by a landslide despite heavy opposition from the White House and personal lobbying by Vice President Dick Cheney.
"They [administration officials] have assured me this will get worked out," said a senior Senate Republican aide who, like others, did not want to be identified because the matter was still being negotiated in private. "It passed the Senate 90-9, and everyone agrees that if it came to a vote in the House, it would pass overwhelmingly. The trend lines are all in the Senate direction."
If the White House capitulates or makes major concessions to McCain, it would be a significant retreat for an administration that argued vehemently that the measure would limit the president's flexibility in fighting terrorism.
The strong sentiment in Congress points to continuing concern about the erosion of America's moral authority following abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the denial of U.S. court trials to detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other allegations of prisoner mistreatment.
"The administration lost the high ground on a critical issue that spoke to America's moral standards in the war on terror," said Marshall Wittmann, a former McCain aide who now is a fellow at the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. "It is inevitable that the administration is going to capitulate on this issue. It is only a matter of time."
Suspicion about U.S. activities prompted European leaders to write to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week to demand information about reports that the CIA holds prisoners in undisclosed sites around the world, including in Europe. Rice plans to respond Monday as she leaves for Europe, where she is expected to encounter questions on U.S. treatment of captives. Rice will travel to Germany, Romania, Ukraine and Belgium.
