Through the Looking Glass
Secretary of State Rice has spent a great deal of her time during her visit to Europe sending oddly mixed messages about the current regime's stance on rendition and torture. It took confrontation with facts for her to finally admit that the CIA made a "mistake" with the kidnapping of a German citizen (scroll down to "They Grabbed the Wrong Guy'). Her latest pronouncments have assured European leaders that the US doesn't have a policy of torture, yet the Vice-President and the President have been lobbying long and hard against Senatory McCain's amendment to a defense bill that would outlaw the use of cruel and inhumane treatment of US prisoners.
The Washington Post has also noted the inconsistency of the administration's presentations.
...Yet during some or all of the past two years, according to reports by numerous U.S. media outlets, the CIA has been subjecting foreign detainees in secret prisons to interrogation techniques including "waterboarding," or simulated drowning; mock execution; prolonged shackling; being threatened with dogs; and "cold cell," in which prisoners are held naked in low temperatures and doused with cold water. It is not just human rights groups that believe these methods violate the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment; according to a report last month in the New York Times, the CIA's own inspector general concluded in a secret report in 2004 that the methods violated the treaty standard.
What then, are Americans -- and the outraged Europeans Ms. Rice was addressing -- to make of her statements insisting that the United States is following its treaty obligations? Unfortunately, her words do not resolve the questions over the CIA's secret prisons. Despite its repeated statements of "policy," the administration has almost certainly been violating the standards of the Convention Against Torture -- unless it believes that waterboarding is permitted by the Constitution and could be used by the FBI on Americans. Mr. Gonzales argued that some violations would be legal, because prisoners held overseas are not subject to the Constitution and therefore not technically protected by the prohibition against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as the Senate defined it. It may be "policy," in other words, but any policy allows for exceptions.
The only way to end waterboarding and other U.S. violations of human rights is to ban cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment for all prisoners by law. That is the content of the amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) amendment to the defense appropriations bill, which the administration has fiercely resisted despite its proclaimed policy. As the White House knows, the amendment has overwhelming support in Congress. Should President Bush accept it, there would be no more need for secret CIA prisons in foreign countries -- or carefully worded statements by members of his Cabinet. [Emphasis added]
It will be interesting to see if the Resident continues to threaten a veto of the defense bill to which McCain's amendment is attached. That would qualify it for a Lewis Carroll Award.
The Washington Post has also noted the inconsistency of the administration's presentations.
...Yet during some or all of the past two years, according to reports by numerous U.S. media outlets, the CIA has been subjecting foreign detainees in secret prisons to interrogation techniques including "waterboarding," or simulated drowning; mock execution; prolonged shackling; being threatened with dogs; and "cold cell," in which prisoners are held naked in low temperatures and doused with cold water. It is not just human rights groups that believe these methods violate the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment; according to a report last month in the New York Times, the CIA's own inspector general concluded in a secret report in 2004 that the methods violated the treaty standard.
What then, are Americans -- and the outraged Europeans Ms. Rice was addressing -- to make of her statements insisting that the United States is following its treaty obligations? Unfortunately, her words do not resolve the questions over the CIA's secret prisons. Despite its repeated statements of "policy," the administration has almost certainly been violating the standards of the Convention Against Torture -- unless it believes that waterboarding is permitted by the Constitution and could be used by the FBI on Americans. Mr. Gonzales argued that some violations would be legal, because prisoners held overseas are not subject to the Constitution and therefore not technically protected by the prohibition against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment as the Senate defined it. It may be "policy," in other words, but any policy allows for exceptions.
The only way to end waterboarding and other U.S. violations of human rights is to ban cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment for all prisoners by law. That is the content of the amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) amendment to the defense appropriations bill, which the administration has fiercely resisted despite its proclaimed policy. As the White House knows, the amendment has overwhelming support in Congress. Should President Bush accept it, there would be no more need for secret CIA prisons in foreign countries -- or carefully worded statements by members of his Cabinet. [Emphasis added]
It will be interesting to see if the Resident continues to threaten a veto of the defense bill to which McCain's amendment is attached. That would qualify it for a Lewis Carroll Award.
posted by Diane at 4:30 AM
1 Comments:
I almost wonder if her message is confusing by plan.
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