Just Waterboarding Under the Bridge

[babylonsister]

Just Waterboarding Under the Bridge
by William Fisher


NEW YORK - U.S. President George W. Bush appeared headed toward another train wreck with Congress as he carried out his threat to veto an intelligence bill that would have banned the Central Intelligence Agency from using waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” in questioning terrorism suspects.


The bill, passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, would have limited the CIA to using 19 less-aggressive interrogation tactics outlined in a U.S. Army Field Manual. The measure would have ended the use of simulated drowning, temperature extremes and other harsh tactics that the CIA used on al-Qaeda prisoners after the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks.

Congress does not appear to have the votes to override the Bush veto, which he announced in his weekly radio address on Saturday. His support comes principally from Senate Republicans, including the Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain.

McCain was one of the principal authors and champions of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2006, which banned harsh interrogation techniques by the U.S. military, but did not cover the CIA. President Bush signed the bill into law, but issued a “signing statement” claiming executive authority to ignore the law if it was necessary for national security purposes.

“Staging a mock execution by inducing the misperception of drowning is a clear violation” of laws and treaties, McCain said at the time.

But McCain sided with the Bush administration on the waterboarding ban by the CIA. He said the measure went too far by applying military standards to intelligence agencies. He also said current laws already forbid waterboarding.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/10/7581/

[texastoast]

1. Those who vote against overriding the veto

will be remembered by history much like Hitler's SS. And they will deserve it. How embarrassing for their families.

[Vincardog]

2. If they vote to torture they have no shame

';

[BlueJac]

3. They will be torturing Americans in the future.....n/t