Clinton on Detainees

In this piece from Morning Edition, former President Bill Clinton (9/21/06-6:19) gives his opinions about what has become a major policy debate in the U.S. Senate: how to handle terrorism suspects. On the same show, NPR Washington editor Ron Elving (2:35) places Clinton's remarks in context.

Musings

• Of interesting here is Clinton's folksy language, referring to the supposed need to whack a detainee, whereas President Bush has been referring to "alternative means of interrogation." Bush also claimed that he could not discuss this means since doing so would help the terrorists prepare for such intense questioning. Sounds nice, but it's a little hard to see the difference between "whacking" and "alternative" as a matter of national security.
  
  
• Clinton also talks about waterboarding (discussed here at Wikipedia). Here's a link to Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which prohibits "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment"--language that President Bush claims is too vague.