Senate Approves Detainee Treatment Rules

[cal04]

The Republican-controlled Senate voted Wednesday to impose restrictions on the treatment of terrorism suspects, delivering a rare wartime rebuke to President Bush. Defying the White House, senators voted 90-9 to approve an amendment that would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held.

The amendment was added to a $440 billion military spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1.The proposal, sponsored by Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), also requires all service members to follow procedures in the Army Field Manual when they detain and interrogate terrorism suspects.

Bush administration officials say the legislation would limit the president's authority and flexibility in war.But lawmakers from each party have said Congress must provide U.S. troops with clear standards for detaining, interrogating and prosecuting terrorism suspects in light of allegations of mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay and the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraibprison in Iraq.

"We demanded intelligence without ever clearly telling our troops what was permitted and what was forbidden. And when things went wrong, we blamed them and we punished them," said McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Our troops are not served by ambiguity. They are crying out for clarity and Congress cannot shrink from this duty," said McCain, R-Ariz.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051006/ap_on_go_co/congress_detainees;_ylt=ApNL1RjFTUSN4KMKVZnBptqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

[Roland99]

1. I'd actually love to see the Propagandist try and veto it.

Talk about further damaging the GOP's reputation (what little shreds there are of it.)

[dalaigh lllama]

2. So who are the 9 idiotic senators against this?

Other than Sessions, who must live in the alternate reality of *world:

But Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., said the legislation is unnecessary. "We do not have a system of systematic abuse of prisoners going on by our United States military," he said.

[Rose Siding]

3. This is GREAT! Bush just got screwed by repubs who did something.....

Right :wow:

Now he has to VETO money to pay troops in combat, or back down from his ugly threat.

[Rose Siding]

4. Powell weighed in on this, too

snip>
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a retired four-star Army general, endorsed McCain's effort.

"The world will note that America is making a clear statement with respect to the expected future behavior of our soldiers. Such a reaction will help deal with the terrible public diplomacy crisis created by Abu Ghraib," Powell said in a letter that McCain read on the Senate floor.

Then there's Sessions, blindfolded, over in the corner:

But Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record), R-Ala., said the legislation is unnecessary. "We do not have a system of systematic abuse of prisoners going on by our United States military," he said.

[mzmolly]

5. This is wonderful news. Though, I thought this was ironed out at the

Geneva Conventions 5 decades ago, it's a welcome change to see politicians waking up.

Bush administration officials say the legislation would limit the president’s authority and flexibility in war.

So, they advocate torture as a tool in "flexibility," yet claim they were not privy to it? That's interesting ain't it? :eyes:

[recovering democrat]

6. Thanking the Repugs

I let both my Republican Senators know how much I appreciate their votes on this amendment. It is pretty amazing to see Republicans in Congress doing something for our troops instead of just rubber-stamping Bush. They are going to catch hell for it though, so it is a good idea to let them know some of us REALLY appreciate them (this one time!)

[IndianaGreen]

7. Bush will veto this!

I am surprised at how many Republicans voted for this.

DeLay is no longer controlling the House, so perhaps they will get brave there too and try to protect our troops by putting them under the POW rules spelled out in the Manual.

Rumsfeld and Bush are guilty of war crimes for authorizing torture!

[onenote]

9. Let's hope so. More people will see what a loon he is.

[onenote]

8. here are the nine no-votes

Allard (R-CO)
Bond (R-MO)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)

Pretty much a murderer's row of nutjobs. Not a single one is up for re-election in 2006, by the way.

onenote

[Judi Lynn]

15. Thank you so much for posting these goddamned names.

I want to memorize them.

Very angry to learn one of them, Pat Roberts, is from my state.

I hope they eventually become unable to drink enough to drown their consciences. Kit Bond from Missouri has been doing his best for years to get rid of his conscience, and I think he's almost made it.

Allard (R-CO)
Bond (R-MO)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)

I'm posting their photos in the order they are listed:

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/Pictures/Persons/004055/004055-183605.jpg

[usregimechange]

10. MSNBC Headline: Bush rebuffed 90-9! Wow!

[usregimechange]

11. Need this on the greatest as well

[kostya]

12. FWIW: here's my more cynical view of this (really have to stop channeling

my departed dad :) ):

McCain saw the writing on the wall of what could happen if a bill like this didn't get overwhelming support. He's seen the much more terrible evidence of war crimes that went on at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib. This bill short-circuits any further investigation and exposure. It will be watered down in the Senate-House negotiations and all this stuff will be swept under the rug.

[Spazito]

13. Having watched McCain, I can only think this was on the table only

so the repubs have a response when the photos and videos that are to be released due to a court order are made public. It is a good amendment, the sad thing is; the only reason it was on the floor at all was because of the damaging material that is about to be released. McCain does NOTHING without looking at the POLITICAL ramifications as opposed to simply doing what is right.

This will be used as a 'yeah but' excuse, imo. I am glad it passed but it should never have been needed in the first place not to mention that, if the subsequent release of photos and videos is accepted as 'yesterday's news', the abuse and torture will continue unabated.

[LeahD]

14. Yes, I was thinking the same.

Senators have seen the evidence, and they need to distance themselves. Would have been more meaningful, if they had acted shortly after the first photos were released. But then, the sentiment among Americans was different than it is today. The war drums were still beating loudly, and I even heard more than one Repub. friend say, "This is war."

[Moochy]

16. Pentagon Appealing the FOIA request

The Pentagon has about 10 days left on their appeal, but to what court are they appealling.

[Disturbed]

17. It's way overdue but once in a while...

Repubs do the correct thing. Now... on the impeaching Bush/Cheney.

[Moochy]

18. Did you read the most recent judges' decision?

It was quite definitively ruling in favor of the ACLU's request.
that was about 6 days ago, and the Pentagon had 15 days to file their next expected appeal.

[Moochy]

19. Scott McClellan said Bush would veto it

The entire military spending bill, because of the torture language.

[Judi Lynn]

20. How can Bush and company look people in the eye?

They think they're so powerful it really doesn't matter any more if people see them as pure evil.

We've had other Presidents all our lives, we've never known anything else, and those men, Democrats usually, were never all that impressed with the power that was available to them.

Bush needs to act as if he's been somewhere, for Christ's sakes. There's no reason for the entire world to suffer just because he's an undisciplined @$$####.

[Moochy]

21. My guess is

They console themselves with humorous aerial bombing campaigns, or
by mirthfully mocking condemned death row inmates.
:shrug:

You are spot on, they don't care because they aren't running for office, and Bush is a deluded crack addled conneticut cowboy.