A Crucial Vacancy at the Bush White House
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Karl Rove, the President's top political strategist, will leave the White House at the end of this month. Some Democrats say Rove acted above the law. Some Republicans say he should have left before last November's elections. We talk with reporters who've tracked the relationship that helped shape six and a half years of American history. Also, the Red Cross report describing CIA treatment of detainees in the war on terror, with techniques learned from countries known to use torture. Did they work? Did they violate international law?
Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Making News
Top Strategist Karl Rove Announces His Resignation ()
After 14 years as the President's top political advisor, Karl Rove announced his resignation today. The President's top political strategist will leave the White House at the end of this month. We talk with reporters who've tracked the relationship that helped shape six and a half years of American history. Some Democrats say Rove acted above the law. Some Republicans say he should have left before last November's elections.
Guests:
- Peter Wallsten: White House Correspondent for the Los Angeles Times
- Carl Cannon: White House Correspondent for the National Journal
- David Corn: Washington Editor, The Nation
- Grover Norquist: President of Americans for Tax Reform
Links:
- Paul Gigot's WSJ commentary on Rove
- Michelle Malkin's commentary on Rove
- Wallsten's 'One-Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century'
- Cannon's 'Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Brains Behind the Remarkable Political Triumph of George W. Bush'
- Corn's 'Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War'
- Corn's article on why Rove should stay
Main Topic
America's Treatment of Suspects in the War on Terror ()
At a news conference last week, President Bush was asked about an article in the New Yorker magazine. It details the CIA's so-called "enhanced interrogation" of terrorist suspects-- including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of September 11. Bush responded, "Haven't seen it. We don't torture." But the article says "the Red Cross described the agency's detention and interrogation methods as tantamount to torture and declared that American officials responsible for the abusive treatment could have committed serious crimes." Whatever one calls it, is such treatment a violation of international law? Does it provide useful information?
Guests:
- Jane Mayer: Staff writer for The New Yorker
- Steven Kleinman: Senior advisor to the Intelligence Science Board's study on educing information
- Michael Scheuer: former Chief, CIA's Bin Laden Unit
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
Detainees and the 2008 Presidential Race ()
For years to come, it's likely the US will be hunting and capturing jihadists all over the world. Some will be too dangerous to release, but impossible to try as ordinary criminals. President Bush and the current Congress are unlikely to workout a legal framework for dealing with them, which will leave that task to the next administration. Jonathan Rauch, senior writer for the National Journal, questioned all the announced presidential candidates to see if they had any plans.
Guests:
- Jonathan Rauch: Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution
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