Bush Accepts McCain's Ban on Torture

Drudge Report ^ | Dec 15, 2005 | LIZ SIDOTI

[armydawg1]

WASHINGTON - President Bush reversed course on Thursday and accepted Sen. John McCain's call for a law banning cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror. Bush said the agreement will "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad."

"It's a done deal," said McCain, talking to reporters in a driving rain outside the White House.

Under the deal, CIA interrogators would be given the same legal rights as currently guaranteed members of the military who are accused of breaking interrogation guidelines. Those rules say the accused can defend themselves by arguing it was reasonable for them to believe they were obeying a legal order.

"We've sent a message to the world that the United States is not like the terrorists," McCain said earlier as he sat next to Bush in the Oval Office.

The White House at one point threatened a veto if the ban was included in legislation sent to the president's desk, and Vice President Dick Cheney made an unusual personal appeal to all Republican senators to give an exemption to the CIA. www.drudgereport.com

[eraser2005]

Once again, Bush flip-flops... I'd swear he's getting worse than Kerry... only thanks to Rove he's better at covering his tracks...

[sono]

McCain Bush Torture Deal Allows the use of C-SPAN

[Stellar Dendrite]

im pinging just in case you've not already have heard/read about this

[EagleUSA]

How weak can he look to be? McCain wears him like a cheap suit.
----
Bush is far more concerned about his LEGACY, his personal agenda and politics, than he is about the country. His entire domestic agenda and its failures are testimony to that fact. He is NOT a fighter.

[Stellar Dendrite]

lol

[Stellar Dendrite]

does anyone remember the recent story about how we were going to drop the nuclear bunker buster weapon? yet, bush used this as a campaign issue against kerry...saying that it would be dropped if kerry were elected.

[Torie]

Wow, it IS complicated (I would not have been able to handle last night!). But notice that it is not that the 5th, 8th and 14th amendment protections are extended to terrorists, only that those amendments are referred to, to define cruel and unusual and inhumane treatment. The lack of Miranda warnings is not cruel and unusual. Sure, SCOTUS is given license to eviscerate any interrogation worth anything in war given the mess of the text, but I am quite confident it will not. It is more likely to say, that cruel and unusual is a function of context, and in the context of war, rough interrogation methods are not cruel and unusual, they are normal.

Yes, the bill poses a risk, but a rather remote one, is my first cut at it. Relax, and be happy.