McCain Names Practices Detainee Bill Would Bar

[cal04]

Senator Says 3 Interrogation Methods Are Among the 'Extreme Measures' the Plan Would Outlaw
A Republican senator who played a leading role in drafting new rules for U.S. interrogations of terrorism suspects said yesterday that he believes a compromise bill embraced by party leaders and the White House will bar some of most extreme techniques said to have been used by the CIA.

Sen. John McCain named three measures that he said would no longer be allowed under a provision barring techniques that cause serious mental or physical suffering by U.S. detainees: extreme sleep deprivation, forced hypothermia and "waterboarding," which simulates drowning. He also said other "extreme measures" would be banned.

McCain's remarks were unusual because public officials involved in the lengthy public debate about U.S. interrogation practices have rarely made specific references to the CIA's actions, choosing instead to make general claims about the need for rough interrogations or a desire to stop abusive behavior.

"It's clear we have to have the high moral ground," said McCain, a former POW tortured by prison guards in Vietnam, on CBS's "Face The Nation." "I am confident that some of the abuses that were reportedly committed in the past will be prohibited in the future."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092400952.html

[BurtWorm]

1. I wonder if the practices are named in the legislation.

I kind of doubt it. I'm betting it will be left up to "interpretation" and signing statement.

[riderinthestorm]

2. Some of the abuses??!

WTF?

"I am confident that some of the abuses that were reportedly committed in the past will be prohibited in the future."

Uhm, why can't it be all of the abuses? Like the ones that "pulpified" that innocent taxi drivers legs (who was killed being hung in a "stress position")?

I am physically ill here.

[young_at_heart]

3. What high moral ground is he referring to? Just ask the world

I can't believe he really thinks that torture/abuse is going to stop.

[Cameron27]

4. He knows it won't stop the torture

I don't know why he capitulated to bush, but he's just lost all moral credibility because of it.

[alfredo]

5. So this is admission to war crimes. bush and those who carried

out their orders are still liable under international law. A law

[TahitiNut]

6. How about the right to an attorney and right to remain silent?

How about no interrogations without presence of counsel? What about habeas corpus? These, after all, are what we have proudly and self-righteously preached worldwide as human rights.

Make no mistake: When we create a MONSTER of a government that can ignore such rights for any one person, then they can be ignored for anyone at all.

[Solly Mack]

7. Other opinions

"But the language is also opaque because its chief objective – the legitimization of irregular interrogations by the CIA – is shrouded in official secrecy.

“As you know, specific techniques are classified,” White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said Thursday evening when he was asked which interrogation techniques the law sanctions.

The challenge for the bill’s Republican authors was to fit the government’s desire for rough treatment and long detentions of terrorism suspects into a web of domestic and international rules and laws. These include the 10-year-old U.S. War Crimes Act, and the 50-year-old Geneva Conventions.

Critics said Friday that the bill’s language abuses both of these, as well as the U.S. Constitution. It would bar detainees from challenging the legality of their detention or treatment by the CIA or the U.S. military in any court. The administration said this controversial “court-stripping” provision is needed so that dangerous detainees could be subjected to lengthy interrogations without hope of release before military trials and could not obstruct or delay trials"


http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/nation/15590774.htm


More thoughts
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/us/23legal.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1159070400&en=48fa1d71c13d8435&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/24/EDGQ3LAA5A1.DTL
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003271914_detain23.html

[magellan]

8. Just another politician who's sold his soul for power

Let's not look too closely at things, right, McCain? Wipe the slate clean. As long as there's a law, no one will break it. Did you try that line with your captors in Nam, too?

[Hippo_Tron]

9. McCain completely sold his soul in 2004

I didn't expect him to endorse Kerry but when he campaigned for Bush without forcing him to denounce the Swift Boat ads and get them pulled off the air, I knew exactly where his loyalties really were. I think in his book he mentions that he never would've overcome the trauma from Vietnam without John Kerry's help. I certainly hope for his sake that his possible shot at being President makes up for selling out his friend.

[OneBlueSky]

10. um . . . that's NOT what the bill says . . . what the bill DOES say, . . .

of course, is totally irrelevant since Bush will undoubtedly issue a signing statement claiming absolute power to interpret the legislation any way he damn well pleases . . .

and you know what they say . . .

"Power corrupts -- and absolute power corrupts absolutely" . . .