A Register-Guard Editorial
Published: Saturday, October 8, 2005
In his five years in the White House, President Bush has yet to veto a single piece of legislation. Yet he's threatening what may be an unprecedented veto of a major military spending bill during wartime if it contains an amendment banning U.S. torture of military prisoners.
It's a sorry commentary on the state of this nation when such a threat doesn't provoke an angry and defiant response from Congress. Reflect for a moment: The president of the United States, the leader of the free world, may veto a measure that bans "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of any prisoner in the hands of the U.S. government. Has this country really strayed that far from the liberties and the rule of law that it was founded to uphold?
Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who sponsored the amendment, rightly notes that his proposal merely codifies what has been assumed to be the law for decades. In addition to prohibiting abuse of detainees, the amendment would require that all U.S. troops, as well as other federal agencies such as the CIA, adhere to interrogation and detention standards outlined in the Army Field Manual.
Forty-six Republicans, including Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., joined 43 Democrats and one independent to support adding anti-torture language to the bill. The provision is a response to revelations of torture by U.S. personnel of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. It was endorsed by 29 retired senior military officers, including Colin Powell, a retired Army general and former secretary of state. <snip>
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/10/08/ed.edit.torture.phn.1008.p1.php?section=opinion