Why the McCain Amendment Won't Ban Torture
History Professor and author Alfred McCoy, writing in Mother Jones, explains why the McCain Amendment won't ban torture. In fact, it may legitimize it.
Under pressure from the White House, the senators also loaded this legislation with loopholes that may soon allow coerced testimony -- extracted through torture -- into American courts for the first time in two centuries.
This disconcerting contrast is but one sign that, under the Bush administration, the United States is moving to publicly legitimate the use of torture, even to the point of twisting this congressional ban on inhumane interrogation in ways that could ultimately legalize such acts. And following their President's lead, the American people seem to be developing a tolerance, even a taste, for torture.
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