Senate Reaffirms Stand Vs. Prison Torture

[peterh]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4212856,00.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Confronting new doubts raised by government memos, the Senate voted Wednesday to make clear that the United States will not use torture against detainees.

The voice vote, on an amendment to a defense spending bill, followed disclosures last week of Bush administration memos contending the government may not be bound by international anti-torture principles in the war against terror.

``The world is watching us,'' said the legislation's sponsor, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill. ``They are asking whether the United States will stand behind its treaty obligations in the age of terrorism.''

The measure says the United States ``shall not engage in torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment ... a standard that is embodied in the U.S. Constitution and in numerous international agreements which the United States has ratified.''




This is good, but everyone knows damn well that when these critters use a “voice vote” it’s not recorded so we have no idea who voted against this….friggin’ Frist, protecting his goons…..



In related business: Halliburton and others get protection in one arena…..

Senators rejected 52-46 a measure that would have made war profiteering a new federal crime subject to up to 20 years in prison.

:mad:

[mom cat]

1. If three votes had switched, Chaney would have had to cast the

deciding vote on the war profiteering criminalization bill. Just wonder what he might have done.

[Jacobin]

2. If they were actually serious about this they would begin

impeachment proceedings to throw out the whole fucking cabal of goons starting with Boosh and going all the way down.

Of course, they AREN"T serious about this, so they'll just pass a harmless little resolution and pretend the problem doesn't exist.