Democrats Stupefied by Bush's Bombshell Speech

Today, President Bush played one of the finest hands since his ascension to the Executive Job in the Fall of 2002 against the screeching, heel-nipping Democrats: He admitted to a program involving secret CIA detentions and interrogations overseas of a veritable rogues' gallery of 14 key (suspected) terrorists . Taken by itself, this revelation is a Democratic wet-dream, repleat with the commensurate moans and groans since the "shocking" leaks earlier this year concerning this secret program (and any confirmation or denial of this was consistently avoided by the White House).

Many folks simply can't believe he went there. But wait! President Bush does not rest on those dubious laurels without some diabolically clever afterthoughts - in which he:

• Listed many of the terrorist players and plots uncovered with this program
  
• Illustrated the chain of intelligence gleaned from this program
  
• Scolded the SCOTUS and Democrats for weakening our ability to fight terrorists
  
• Called for Congress to expedite a bill to authorize prosecution of these individuals by Military Commission for War Crimes
  
• Called for Congress to clearly define "permissable interrogation" practices
  
• Praised the military, CIA and other civilians involved in this and other intelligence programs

Basically, in doing this he has called out the Democrats to either put up or shut up in the War on Terror. According to Mario at The Corner:

"Taken as a whole, the President's maneuver today turned the political tables completely around. He stole the terms of debate from the Democrats, and rewrote them, all in a single speech. It will be delightful to watch in coming days and hours as bewildered Democrats try to understand what just hit them, and then sort through the rubble of their anti-Bush national security strategy to see what, if anything, remains."

All of this just days before the fifth anniversary of this country's worst nightmare on 9-11-01, and just two months shy of the mid-term elections where his fellow Republicans stand to lose the House and, possibly, the Senate.

The following are just some of the terrorist plots that were exposed and foiled by these interrogations:

• The 2002 Arabian Gulf Shipping Plot
• The West Coast Airliner Plot of 2002
• The 2003 Karachi Plot
• The Heathrow Airport Plot of 2003
• The UK Urban Targets Plot of 2004

These 14 Terror suspects are now at the Guantanamo Bay prison. They should literally thank God for that.

You can bet over the coming weeks these issues regarding alleged torture of suspects during interrogations will be debated, sliced and diced by the Democrats. These are the same folks who would like for you to believe that the robust U.S. economy is in a shamble.

To read the Summary of the High Value Terrorist Detainee Program, click here.