US detainee treatment bill goes forward despite veto threat
US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has resurrected proposed legislation that would impose restrictions on the detention, interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects. McCain’s proposal, to be added as an amendment to the military spending bill up for a vote in the Senate by Friday, would ban the use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” against any detainee in US custody and would require all US military to follow Army Field Manual procedures when detaining and interrogating suspects. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) may also reintroduce a proposal that defines “enemy combatant” and establishes procedures for the prosecution of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. McCain and Graham both offered the proposals in July, but they were withdrawn in part due to White House opposition. Last week, the White House threatened to veto the $440 billion defense spending bill if the amendments are added. AP has more.
Update: In a surprising show of solidarity, the amendment passed the Senate 90-9. This may test Bush’s resolve in the face of a promise to veto. Moreover this may further solidify the growing independence of many Senate Republicans dissatisfied with recent White House moves. Only 9 Senators voted against the amendment.
10 Responses to “US detainee treatment bill goes forward despite veto threat”
President Bush veto something? Surely you can’t be serious!
I love the White House’s argument on this: We don’t mistreat or degrade anyone in our custody and anyone who says we do is a commie pinko terrorist sympathizer and a traitor who is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. But if you pass a bill requiring us to do what we already claim to do, we’ll veto it because that would prevent us from doing what we don’t do.
Despite well-publicized lapses which have been appropriately addressed, I believe our military and legal processes have performed admirably well in the face of an enemy who respects neither rule of law nor rules of war. I can’t blame the White House for wanting to avoid having Congress intervene in the execution of the War on Terror.
Besides, aren’t “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” already banned? Do we really need a rider on a spending bill to prohibit them?
“aren’t “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” already banned? Do we really need a rider on a spending bill to prohibit them?”
Eric, I guess the question I have in response is, do we really need to veto a whole bill to prevent the addition of safeguards we supposedly already have anyway? What is the harm in saying the obvious?
I don’t believe that they’ve been appropriately addressed at all. There is pretty compelling evidence that what happened at Abu Ghraib was not just a few rogue underlings doing what they wanted to do without adequate supervision, but was instead a case of the folks at the bottom following orders from above as part of official policy. It’s also quite clear that what went on there was far more serious than what the public has been shown so far, hence the furious reaction to the judge ordering the release of the rest of the photographs. Whenever you hear hysterical complaints about how exposing what the government has done will “undermine the war on terror” and “give aid and comfort to the enemy”, you can be damn sure that you’re looking at a government frantic to cover up what they’ve done.
On top of that, you’ve got the case of Captain Fishback, who wrote a letter to John McCain detailing how he has spent a year and a half trying to get clarification from his higher ups of what exactly is allowed and not allowed in treatment of prisoners in this conflict. He himself witnessed horrible abuse of prisoners at Camp Mercury, near the Syrian border. After sending that letter to McCain, he suddenly finds himself under investigation and is currently being interrogated at Ft. Bragg. Make no mistake, things are a lot worse than we’ve been told and there is a major cover up going on.
You mean Republicans in the Senate did something right this year? Well hells bells, they might be earning a paycheck.
Thank you for this.
I have been watching this story for a long time hoping that sooner or later it would get some attention.
I am still waiting for someone to connect the dots to see how prisoner abuse and war-photos-for-porn are both part of the same larger picture.
Who are the 9 Senators voting for cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment?
This tells who they are.
Wayne Allard, Colorado
Christopher S. Bond, Missouri
Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
Thad Cochran, Mississippi
John Cornyn, Texas
James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma
Pat Roberts, Kansas
Jeff Sessions, Alabama
Ted Stevens, Alaska