The New York High Times - Bush Allies gathered yesterday to block a bill that would have required the White House to disclose the locations of secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency and to reveal the amount spent annually by American intelligence agencies.
Although money for the 2007 intelligence budget was already appropriated last year through the defense spending bill, and defeat of the bill would not hold up money for the 16 agencies that make up the American intelligence network, The White House last week threatened to veto the intelligence bill because it contained several provisions it deemed objectionable, including a requirement that the Bush administration give Congress a detailed report about C.I.A. prison locations and interrogation methods used on high-level terrorism suspects.
When approached by reporters, President Bush remarked, "I'm the PRESIDENT. I'm the decider! I decide what is and isn't good for America. Who do those folks in Congress think they are? I'm half thinkin' of havin' them all classified as terrerists. Don't they know I done got rid of habeas corpus?"
