The King of Pointland

Checks, Balances, and Parties

From time to time, the CIA tortures suspects until they die. As we are a signatory to the U.N. Convention Against Torture, it seems that this is already illegal under U.S. law. But, just to be clear, John McCain and the rest of the U.S. Congress have forced the president to finally concede this point:

President Relents, Backs Torture Ban
McCain Proposal Had Veto-Proof Support

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005; A01

President Bush reversed position yesterday and endorsed a torture ban crafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after months of White House attempts to weaken the measure, which would prohibit the "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment of any detainee in U.S. custody anywhere in the world.

The announcement of a deal at the White House yesterday was a setback for the administration, which had pressed the senator to either drop the measure or modify it so that interrogators, especially with the CIA, would have the flexibility to use a range of extreme tactics on terrorism suspects. In the end, McCain, bolstered by strong support in both houses of Congress, was willing to add only two paragraphs that would give civilian interrogators legal protections that are already afforded to military interrogators.

This is a bill the President had threatened to make the first victim of his veto pen.

How did the House of Representatives vote Wednesday on a measure supporting the anti-torture language? Overall, "[o]n a 308 to 122 vote, the House yesterday supported the specific language proposed by McCain." But that broke down as follows: Republicans voted 121 against and 107 for the measure. Democrats voted 200 for and 1 against the measure. Remember this the next time you are told the two parties are no different.