So the oh-so-moral dissident Senators made a deal with the White House to resolve the detainee and torture bill. Looks to me like those highly upright men got rolled.
The agreement says the executive branch is responsible for upholding the nations’ commitment to the Geneva Conventions, leaving it to the president to establish through executive rule any violations for the handling of terrorism suspects that fall short of a "grave breach." Significantly, Senate aides said, those rules would have to be published in the Federal Register.(My italics).The agreement provides several pages describing "grave breaches" that would not be allowed, starting with torture and including other forms of assault and mental stress. But it does not lay out specific interrogation techniques that would be prohibited.
Wonderful. This President has already shown that he's willing to defy any constraints (see "signing statements") the Congress tries to put on his exercise of power, so why not just cede him all the authority upfront?
Whaddya bet the press once again fawns all over that "maverick" McCain, even though he essentially let the Administration run roughshod over his stated goal of keeping American soldiers safe from torture?
And the freakin' Democrats, by relying on the Republican Senators, are now once again in the awkward position of having to vote for something I hope most of them gag even thinking about, right before an election.
Here's Marty Lederman on the legal aspects, including the abolition of the detainees' habeas corpus rights.
Here's Digby on the politics.
It amazes me. The duly-elected representatives of this once-great nation are so cowed by a bunch of semi-literate guys with bombs that they're willing to scrap all the moral standing this country once had. In Bush's case I'm not surprised, but I thought there were still some Senators with courage.
It's pretty simple, really. Torture is immoral. It is not something the United States of America should engage in, no matter the circumstances.
Posted by Linkmeister at September 22, 2006 12:01 AM | TrackBack