In spite of personal lobbying trip, Bush might not get it all from Congress

After Senate committees approved several bills that grant the White House increased authority to use warrantless wiretaps, things were looking good for the administration's efforts to legalize extra-legal means of surveillance, detention, and of course torturing prisoners. But several Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee broke with the party line when it came to the detention and treatment of prisoners.

"Four of the 13 Republicans on the panel joined the 11 Democrats to pass their version of the measure, rejecting Bush's proposal to bar defendants from seeing classified evidence prosecutors may want to use in court," reports Bloomberg News.

The four Republicans acted against the White House today only a few hours after the president paid a rare visit to Capitol Hill in order to personally lobby House members to support his plan. (. . .)

The bill passed by the Senate panel had been drafted by Republican Senators John McCain, Lindsey O. Graham, and Chairman John Warner. Senator Susan M. Collins was the fourth Republican to vote for the bill.

"Voting 15-9, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved the bill they said would provide suspects more legal rights than Bush wanted and resisted his attempt to more narrowly define the Geneva Conventions' standards for humane treatment of prisoners," reports Reuters.