President Bush, remarking that it's a "sick world," called yesterday for an increase in federal funding and new legislation to combat online predators who stalk children in cyberspace in hopes of sexually molesting them.
On a day off in Washington between campaign swings for the midterm elections, Bush listened to experts speak at the White House about child pornography and its spread on the Internet. He proposed increases in spending to combat child molesters who find their victims online and urged the Senate to join the House in passing legislation overturning a Supreme Court decision that struck down a ban of computer simulations of child pornography.
"The Senate needs to get moving and join the House in providing our prosecutors with the tools necessary to help shut down this obscenity, this crime -- these crimes against children," Bush said on a day when he also signed a military spending bill and spoke with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about efforts to get the U.N. Security Council to agree on a resolution against Iraq.
The legislation Bush promoted would forbid real and electronic depictions of prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The Supreme Court in April struck down, on civil liberties grounds, part of a 1996 law banning the sort of computer pornography not contemplated when earlier interpretations of child pornography were set.
The event was an unusual one for the Bush White House, which has sought to focus on large, core themes rather than handle a broad array of smaller policy matters as the Clinton administration did. Bush yesterday proposed boosting funds for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces to $12.5 million in the current fiscal year from $6.5 million -- a significant increase for the program but a tiny part of federal spending.
The president advised parents to monitor their children's online activities and to tell their children not to meet in person with someone they chatted with online "unless Mom or Dad is with them."
Bush also held an intimate, roundtable discussion with law enforcement officials pursuing child pornographers. The emotional session, similar to one Bush held recently with families of children who had been kidnapped, included descriptions of parents who molest their children and join clubs of like-minded parents and post photographs of their actions on the Internet.
At one point, Bush shook his head and closed his eyes as if the information were too repugnant to hear. Stacey Bradley, an FBI agent, spoke about posing as a 12-year-old child in Internet chat rooms and luring in men from all over the country, including one "flying from Boston carrying his oxygen tent behind."
"Sick world," the president said when she finished. "Thanks for your hard work."
