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Press Briefing by Tony Snow 09/14/06 (Topic: Interrogation Laws & Geneva Convention)
— Friday, September 15, 2006 — Q I think it would be fair, then, for some people in the world to look at this process as a questioning of defining how close you can go to Common Article III before you reach cruel and inhuman, until you put that stuff into play in an interrogation? MR. SNOW: Explain to me how that would work. Explain to me how they would draw that conclusion, because I don't get it. Q You don't understand how someone could draw that conclusion? MR. SNOW: No, I don't. Q By trying to create a definition of an article -- MR. SNOW: So what you would rather have is a law with no definitions so that people would go into the field not knowing whether they're obeying or not obeying the law? I mean, that's the whole point here. You've got to know what the law says; nobody knows. Q That's what you guys say is the point here. I'm saying people around the world could view this process very differently, and, frankly, through a much more sinister lens, that you're actually -- MR. SNOW: Well, no, I think what you're trying to do is to import a sinister -- I don't think -- there's nothing sinister about trying to say what the law is. Do you disagree? Q It's not for me to agree or disagree -- MR. SNOW: Well, wait a minute, of course you are, and what you're doing is that you're putting a highly cynical interpretation on what should be an open and transparent attempt to try to figure out what the rules are. Q There are people -- I think it's fair to say there are people around the world who have questioned this administration's commitment to the Geneva Conventions, starting with GITMO, some of the questions on POWs versus -- MR. SNOW: Would these people have visited GITMO? Would these people have firsthand experience with GITMO? Q A lot of people have been through GITMO at this point, and seen it, and come away -- MR. SNOW: And you know what, it's -- a number of you have been down there. I mean, it was described by a recent delegation as a model prison. I don't think -- what you're getting at is vague smears about the United States, which quite often are reiterated by cynical interpretations of what we're trying to do, which is to be absolutely straight and up front about making sure the rules are clear. What's interesting is, a lot of people say, you guys are lawless, you want to do whatever you want. No, this is a way of saying, we don't want to be lawless. We want to tell people exactly what they can do, because if you have vagueness about it, you do not have the proper conditions for the discipline you need and the protections of people who are going to be questioned, and furthermore, you run the risk that your own people are going to be put in harm's way. They put their lives on the line, they risk everything, they think they're obeying the law, and next thing they know, they're being indicted by somebody. You can't have that situation, and that's what we're really trying to address. Far from being cynical, it's an attempt to really -- to implement the ideal of being open and honest with everybody. White House Press Corps | Press Briefing | Tony Snow | News Media | Bush Administration | Geneva Convention | Torture
Posted by WhiteHousePressCorps.org @ 3:40 PM
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