An executive order to be NICER?

Bush Alters Rules for Interrogations

The White House declined to say whether the CIA currently has a detention and interrogation program, but said if it did, it must adhere to the guidelines outlined in the executive order.

"If it did"...didn't O.J. Simpson say something like that?

The Supreme Court had ruled in June 2006 that trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law, so Bush urged Congress to change the law. He also insisted that the law authorize CIA agents to use tough methods to interrogate suspected terrorists.

The legislation said the president can "interpret the meaning and application" of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts.

Okay, I remember that. So now he's apparently advocating the opposite. Maybe I'm misunderstanding it...

not again, not AGAIN...

Yesterday Americans were being warned not to go to Iran, which ought to be a no-brainer, but to each his own.

Today Bush is demanding Iran release American detainees.

Don't go to Iran....because we're going to invade on behalf of four detainees?

Of course not,, says Condi. Why, the very idea!

But the meme has been invoked.

Does "detainees" equal "hostages"? Will Bush use the magic word? Or will he leave it up to us to make the connection through inference?

If we do redefine "detainees" in this way, someone's got some 'splainin' to do about our own "detainees"...right? Like this:

"That's not the kind of detainee I'm talking about!"