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Stop Torture--Retain the McCain Amendment
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Progressive Portal
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Nov 04, 2005 19:30 PST
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ADMINISTRATION SEEKS PERMISSION TO TORTURE DETAINEES;
MILITARY LEADERS SAY IT'S COUNTERPRODUCTIVE AND WRONG
[From the Friends Committee on National Legislation
<http://www.source.org>]
The Bush Administration is pushing hard to debilitate the McCain
anti-torture amendment to the 2006 defense appropriations bill (HR
2863), seeking exceptions that would allow the president to authorize
torture, or worse, and would exempt the CIA from the legal prohibition
against torture. A vote is expected soon in the House on whether to
retain the McCain amendment without modification.
President Bush has threatened to veto the 2006 military appropriations
bill because the Senate amended its version of the bill to require that:
(1) treatment of all Department of Defense (DoD) detainees or detainees
held in DoD facilities must follow the Army Field Manual for
Intelligence Interrogation; and (2) the U.N. Convention Against Torture
and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (to which the U.S. is a
signatory) governs all U.S. detainees.
Administration supporters have proposed a number of exemptions from the
outright ban on torture by U.S. forces, including:
* allowing the president to issue an order that waives the rule against
torture in certain circumstances;
* exempting some geographic locations, countries or locations outside
the jurisdiction of U.S. courts from the no-torture requirement; and
o creating an exception for "classified intelligence gathering," as
defined by operatives in the field.
o
Vice-President Dick Cheney has been lobbying to exempt the CIA from the
constraints of the torture ban.
Take Action
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Tell your representative to do everything possible to retain the
Senate's bipartisan "McCain amendment" in the House military
appropriations bill. Insist that the amendment not be modified to allow
exceptions for "presidential waivers," for the geographic location of
the detainee, or for the CIA:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=8197461&type=CO
More Information
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Text of the McCain Amendment against torture:
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1567&issue_id=70
Washington Post reveals existence of secret CIA detention centers:
http://tinyurl.com/cu3hj
New York Times reports fierce internal White House debate on torture:
http://www.blackenterprise.com/yb/ybopen.asp?section=ybng&story_id=84897543
Letter from Colin Powell endorsing McCain Amendment:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/12825913.htm
January 2005 letter from military generals about then Attorney
General-nominee Alberto Gonzales's torture policy:
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/media/2005_alerts/etn_0104_mil_let.htm
U.S. stand against torture: firm enough? Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0119/p11s01-usju.html
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