White House Aims to Block Legislation on Detainees
The Bush administration has been lobbying to block legislation that would bar the US military from engaging in "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of detainees, hiding prisoners from the Red Cross, and using interrogation methods not authorized by a new Army field manual.
story [wash.post] via/archived truthout
>related: From the Congressional Record
...amendment (no. 1557) to the Defense Authorization Act...to establish uniform standards for the interrogation of detainees held by the U.S. military.
The record of the July 25 floor debate, including the declassified memoranda presented by Sen. Graham, may be found here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2005_cr/s072505.html
The Bush Administration said it "strongly opposes" this and related amendments that would regulate the detention of suspected terrorists.
"If legislation is presented that would restrict the President's authority to protect Americans effectively from terrorist attack and bring terrorists to justice, the President's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," the White House said in a July 21 statement on the Senate bill.
~Simply put Cheney and the Bush Administration do not want interrogations of detainees in DOD custody to conform to the U.S. Army's Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation. These lawmakers are not attempting to reinvent the wheel (or should I say rack?) with this amendment. But the President's advisers have a better understanding of interrogation techniques than the US Army?
Posted by Cieciel at July 27, 2005 04:08 AM