As near as I can tell there aren't any loop holes either. Considering the overwhelming support of this ban in both the House and the Senate, the White House only put themselves in danger of looking even more ridiculous then they already did by trying to fight it more. Wisely, they gave into political reality. Of course, what that means for the reality on the ground (say in Gitmo) remains to be seen.The White House and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reached agreement today on a measure that would ban torture and limit interrogation tactics in U.S. detention facilities, a provision that the Bush administration had strongly resisted but that received broad support in Congress.
The agreement, announced after President Bush met with McCain and Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) in the White House, came a day after the House overwhelmingly approved language supported by McCain that would rohibit "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" of anyone in the custody of the U.S. government. The Senate approved the provision by a lopsided margin earlier.
McCain said the agreement "puts into the Army Field Manual the specific procedures for interrogations" and "prohibits cruel, inhuman [treatment] or torture."
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Bush Accepts Torture Ban
Finally, reason takes over at the White House (well, about torture anyway.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Well, without the perspective of the past 5 years it would seem obvious that a President is not going to win in this kind of situation. However, we are talking about the Bush presidency here. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that he could ramrod things through Congress with full Republican support. This is the clearest evidence we have to date of schism within the party. I don't mean that in the same sense that there was a schism in the church which led to the formation of the Catholic and the Orthodox, but it's obvious that the moderates are not only no longer in lock-step with the hardliners, but that the hardliners are actually being forced to fall in with the moderates. That's due to a lot of reasons, but probably mostly to Bush's approval rating. No matter what his approval eventually rises to, I don't think we'll ever go back to the situation where the party unanimously backs him on any issue. It remains to be seen though whether the moderate Republicans will seize the reins and decide what the party's direction is.
Post a Comment