CIA speech reflects Cheney-Rice rift
Readers of the administration's tea leaves say the CIA prison issue illustrated again the fault lines between Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on how hard a line the administration should take on preserving executive power.
Cheney has been the lead advocate of the theory that the commander in chief has almost untrammeled authority to protect the nation's security--including the power to determine how terrorist detainees are treated. White House insiders say that Cheney has been arguing that case in recent months in discussions over what the next steps should be in dealing with the secret-prisons issue. On the other hand, Rice has been increasingly concerned about America's image abroad and lingering perceptions that the United States brutalizes detainees and violates its own principles in pursuing the war on terrorism.
This story is unfolding, but administration sources say that Bush appears to have settled on a compromise between Cheney and Rice--giving ground on the secret-prisons issue and on military tribunals but holding fast to the CIA's ability to conduct interrogations outside the military's rules.
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