Bush Vetoes Anti-Torture Bill
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
other press 
Saturday March 08, 2008 18:22
by Seán Ryan
When presented with a Bill from Congress today, a bill that would have outlawed waterboarding amongst other criminal acts, President Bush simply vetoed it.
"Because the danger remains, we need to ensure our intelligence officials have all the tools they need to stop the terrorists," Bush said in his weekly radio address. He added that the vetoed legislation "would diminish these vital tools."
This Bill, had it been passed would have brought the CIA's rights with regard to their treatment of captives into line with the US Army Field Manual which prohibits torture methodologies like waterboarding.
Bush said: "The bill Congress sent me would not simply ban one particular interrogation method, as some have implied. Instead, it would eliminate all the alternative procedures we've developed to question the world's most dangerous and violent terrorists."
Michael Hayden, the Director of the CIA said after the veto that: "There are methods in CIA's program that have been briefed to our oversight committees, are fully consistent with the Geneva Convention and current U.S. law, and are most certainly not torture."
This seems to be a claim that torture like waterboarding etc., is considered legal and proper by the Geneva Conventions (Yes Mr. Hayden - ConventionS).
It also looks like Congress will not be able to overturn this veto as it lacks both the votes and the guts to do so.
Comments (1 of 1)
Jump To Comment: 1In December of last year a longtime rumour became the talk of the worldwide media when it was acknowledged that the CIA had made and later destroyed at least two tapes where 'harsh interrogation' of prisoners had taken place. This despite the fact the the American Courts had previously ordered that the CIA preserve any such footage. It emerged from the following revelations that waterboarding had been used twice by the CIA. The US government put themselves to pains to assure the world that this had only happened twice and that it had been legal when it had happened.
The legality of waterboarding is still a burning issue and most who express an opinion on the topic and who aren't associated with the American Government, say that waterboarding is torture and that it's unlawful. The assertion that the US has only waterboarded twice is a harder nut to crack. Given, we've many shell-shocked and psychologically damaged folks who've been released by the US from hellholes like Guantanamo after many years of captivity without charge. Many say they've been waterboarded. The argument advanced is that these people cannot be trusted as they hate America and they wish to show their captivity in the worst possible light for various reasons. I don't particularly like or indeed believe this viewpoint but I do concede that it may be a valid argument. Again, I neither agree with nor believe that this countering measure is the truth. What, on the other hand, would be the reaction, if the CIA were to now admit that waterboarding was used often?
Would it not once again show that the US administration were barefaced liars and would it not once again, show that Ireland should treat any US assurances with the contempt and skepticism they deserve. Surely it's time that the world imposed economic sanctions on the US until they were convinced of the fallacy of their belief that they own the world and can do as they will to it. I may add that it is not necessary for one's country or indeed the UN to impose sanctions for them to be imposed. The individual can impose sanctions and this is a power that is not often exercised and neither can the ability to do it be easilly taken away.
I digress...
Recently on the BBC, a former CIA interrogator was interviewed. Amongst other things, John Kiriakou said the following: "Like a lot of Americans, I think, I'm involved in this, this internal intellectual battle with myself - weighing the idea that waterboarding may be torture versus the quality of information that we, that we often get after using the waterboarding technique."
Often?
'Often' doesn't fit into the picture that emerges from 'twice.'
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