Collective insanity and a wish to be French...or dead.
The White House couldn't even get them to exempt the CIA, the entire Congress is more worried about the MSM, than the lives of their constituents.
White House and McCain Are Near Deal on Torture Bill (misleading title, the "deal" is that the WH has to give up, because the entire Congress is supporting MCInsane.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/07/politics/07mccain.html
The White House has all but abandoned its effort to persuade Senator John McCain to exempt Central Intelligence Agency employees from legislation barring inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners in American custody. But a top presidential aide continued to negotiate a deal on Tuesday that would offer covert officers some protection from prosecution, administration and Senate officials said.
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It's far better for thousands of innocent Americans to die, suffer multi-billions of damage, than to hurt a hair on the terrorists cute little heads. (/sarcasm, bitter sarcasm)