Lieberman And Graham Threaten To Shut Down Senate Over Detainee Photos, House Dems Want Hearings
Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have threatened to halt all business in the Senate until Congress passes their legislation allowing President Barack Obama to suppress photos showing detainee abuse.
"We're not going to do any more business in the Senate," Graham said. "Nothing's going forward until we get this right."
But House Democrats are insisting on hearings before they even consider signing onto the Senate's effort, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Monday night.
The Lieberman-Graham amendment, which would empower the Pentagon to block the photos for up to three years without review, has sharply curtailed House support for the congressional war supplemental, as has an $108 billion line of credit for the International Monetary Fund. The Huffington Post confirmed Monday night that Lieberman-Graham had been removed from the bill in conference. Anti-war Democrats who oppose International Monetary Fund money can compromise on that issue, Frank said. But Lieberman-Graham, which would supersede the Freedom of Information Act, is different.
"I believe it would be possible to get people to switch. I'll switch, others will switch. But not if that FOIA thing is in there," he said. "This is a bill that nobody's had a chance to debate."
The detainee photos bill sailed through the Senate appropriations process with a simple voice vote just before the Memorial Day recess. Frank deemed hypocritical those Senate Republicans who complain that the Democratic majority has flouted typical approval processes.
"I'd like to hear the case why they think it's a problem, I'd like to hear from some opponents," he said regarding the potential release of detainee photos. "This has got nothing to do with the Appropriations budget. The IMF does. The IMF's spending. Whatever happened to procedural regularity?"
SNIP
The people in Iraq already know the brutality that took place in our prisons. The only reason our government doesn't want those photos published is that they want to keep Americans in the dark about the nasty deeds they did in our name and keep the illusion that our military and intelligence services only have our safty in mind. What b.s.!
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