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Cheney Tries to Block Bill To Limit Detainee Abuse

While the Armed Services Committee in Congress has been working hard to draft a bill that would end some of the worst abuses of the Bush Administration such as torture and hiding detainees from the Red Cross, Dick Cheney made a personal visit this week to committee members to kill the planned bill.

The legislation, which is still being drafted, includes provisions to bar the military from hiding prisoners from the Red Cross; prohibit cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees; and use only interrogation techniques authorized in a new Army field manual.

...In an unusual, 30-minute private meeting on Capitol Hill on Thursday night, Mr. Cheney warned three senior Republicans on the Armed Services Committee that their legislation would interfere with the president's authority and his ability to protect Americans against terrorist attacks.

.......The three Republicans are John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John W. Warner of Virginia, the committee chairman. They have complained that the Pentagon has failed to hold senior officials and military officers responsible for the abuses that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad, and at other detention centers in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Amendment could be tacked on to the $442 billion Pentagon spending bill scheduled to be debated next week in the Senate. Bush's advisors are threatening a veto if the Senate approves the Amendment.

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    The Amendment could be tacked on to the $442 billion Iraq spending bill
    Can that be right? $442 billion? With a "B"? Holy smokes!

    TL, I think that's the entire Pentagon budget, not just an appropriation for Iraq.

    Thanks, you're right. It's the Pentagon budget. I just changed it.

    Not, of course, the total Pentagon budget, just the aboveground part. The total budget is closer to a trillion. Duffle bags not included.

    Re: Cheney Tries to Block Bill To Limit Detainee A (none / 0) (#5)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:34 PM EST
    Uh... I don't guess we'll ever hear an explanation from a Republican about why they are so determined to torture people, ever.

    There are at least 4 torture centers under CIA control: - Gitmo - Iraq - Thailand - Egypt and maybe ships inside waters under bilaterral agreements that practice tortures as well. 53% of Americans were convinced that torture was a good thing to extract information. So far the detainees in Gitmo did not teach the US authorities any sensitive information.

    Does anyone have details on this? Bill # name/number of the amendment? I live in Maine and have 2 republican senators who might actually listen to voters on these kinds of issues!

    Re: Cheney Tries to Block Bill To Limit Detainee A (none / 0) (#8)
    by jen on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:35 PM EST
    So we are supposed to believe that the detainees are being treated extraordinarily well and not abused but congress can't pass any laws to force the military to treat them according to regs?? It *IS* a few bad apples! All at the top of the heap.

    Re: Cheney Tries to Block Bill To Limit Detainee A (none / 0) (#9)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:35 PM EST
    The only things I want to see completely blocked are the few remaining arteries to Cheney's concrete heart. Forget the country being better off, this guy's FAMILY will finally have a chance at happiness. And for his tombstone might I suggest R.I.T. -- Rest in Torment. But how do I really feel?

    Re: Cheney Tries to Block Bill To Limit Detainee A (none / 0) (#10)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:35 PM EST
    Mainesusan, I think it is S. 1043

    Why are there no comments from the rightwingers on this? Is it that they have nothing to say about the fact that the people they voted for are doing everything in their power to keep torturing people who are of low or no intelligence value? Where are the rightwingers? I want to hear them stick up for Bush and Cheney now!

    Re: Cheney Tries to Block Bill To Limit Detainee A (none / 0) (#12)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:35 PM EST
    Because they aree busy chewing their feet right now... They reralize they have been had, been deluded by the flag waving BS propaganda... tough titty for the wrong wingers. They will re-group behind their flag and their bible and spew out a little more rhetoric, condemn a few more minority segments of society and be OK though...

    Re: Cheney Tries to Block Bill To Limit Detainee A (none / 0) (#13)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:35 PM EST
    Fenria, I would like to hear my friends on the right explain why they favor barring the military from hiding prisoners from the Red Cross? Why are they in favor of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees? In opposing this legislation, Bush shows his true colors. The Republicans have become the pro-torture, anti-human rights party.

    Re: Cheney Tries to Block Bill To Limit Detainee A (none / 0) (#14)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:01:35 PM EST
    According to the Bush administration, we need to hide military prisoners from the Red Cross and use cruel, inhuman techniques against detainees in order to fight terrorism. However, doesn't the United States lose all credibility when we insist that other countries allow Red Cross visits and ban torture? If we don't practice what we preach, why should anyone else? What other countries have learned from the United States is that the way to avoid US pressure and comdemnation is to label those who are anti-government (including those who favor human rights and democracy) "terrorists". If you call those who oppose your repressive government "terrorists", then you can be as cruel and inhuman as you please, because now you become what the Bush administration calls an ally in the war against terrorism. When the only means for some of these governments to remain in power is by means of the hammer, all opposition looks like nails.

    If we don't practice what we preach, why should anyone else?
    Which is one of the real reasons why they hate us.