Bush judicial nominee struggles to win Senate OK

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon’s top lawyer drew
bipartisan fire on Tuesday for coercive techniques used to
question terrorism suspects as he struggled to win U.S. Senate
confirmation to a seat on a federal appeals court.

William Haynes defended the Defense Department’s detention
and interrogation policies for enemy combatants that he helped
draft after the September 11 attacks.

“The armed services operate within a tradition of
restraint,” Haynes, the department’s general counsel, told a
Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing.

“I have, along with others, endeavored … to develop
appropriate guidelines for treatment and questioning of
terrorists,” Haynes said. “Information is critical.”

Yet Democrats and a few Republicans questioned if Haynes
went too far, some particularly critical of the recommended use
of dogs to exploit phobias of detainees.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada threatened to
block President George W. Bush’s nomination of Haynes to the
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, citing a letter from 20
retired military officers who expressed concern about the
nominee.

“We’ll do whatever is necessary to protect the judiciary,”
Reid told reporters when asked if Haynes would be filibustered.

Sixty votes would be needed in the Republican-led,
100-member Senate to end a filibuster. Members of both parties
said it was unclear if it could be mustered.

Haynes said the policies he embraced did not lead to abuse
of prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere, sand that those actions
were not authorized.

Haynes also said the policies were drafted with the Justice
Department and input from Defense Department “working group.”

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said,
“The working group was a sham” and its concerns ignored. He
declined to say if he would oppose the nominee.

An August 2002 Justice Department memo said only the most
severe types of torture were not permissible under U.S. and
international agreements against torture. This was later
replaced with a broader definition.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the military
tribunal system set up to try enemy combatants.

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said he was
awaiting a response from Haynes to a recent letter he sent him.
“I’m not blocking it (the nomination), but I have questions,”
McCain said.