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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Cheney seeks legalizing torture to gain info and to relieve stress |
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| abdullahcohn |
| 11/06/05 at 07:20:57 |
| Cheney seeks legalizing torture 11/5/2005 9:00:00 AM GMT Ads by alClick - Middle East Advertising Luxury flats to rent - London Mayfair Carlton court is an new block of fully furnished serviced apartments in Mayfair. Excellent tariff www.carltoncourt.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The vice president’s remarks were only supported by lawmaker, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama Vice President Dick Cheney has appealed to Republican senators to allow CIA exemptions to the ban on use of torture against what the U.S. government calls “terror suspects”, participants in a closed-door session have revealed. Speaking at a regular weekly private meeting of Senate Republican senators, Cheney claimed that the United States doesn't use torture against detainees, however he said that exemption from any legislation banning "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment is needed to prevent a terrorist attacks, The Associated Press reported. The Senate’s recently approved provision bans the "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. "The vice president's office doesn't have any comment on a private meeting with members of the Senate," Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for Cheney, said. The vice president’s remarks were only supported by lawmaker, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the chief Senate sponsor of an anti-torture provision that has twice cleared the Senate and triggered veto threats from the White House, dissented, according to officials. McCain was tortured while in detention as a prisoner during the Vietnam War. Analysts say that Cheney's appeal has undermined his role as White House point man on the contentious issue as well as the importance the administration attaches to it, specially that it is made at a time where Congress tries to allay worldwide anger sparked by repetitive abuse scandals and allegations that the U.S. uses torture as an interrogation tactic in its detention centers. In an interview with National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" on Thursday, Lawrence Wilkerson, a former colonel who was Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff during President Bush's first term, said that he had traced paperwork back to Cheney's office that he believes led to U.S. troops abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib jail. "It was clear to me there that there was a visible audit trail from the vice president's office through the secretary of defense down to the commanders in the field," Wilkerson said, adding that view of Cheney's office was put in "carefully couched" terms but that to a soldier in the field it meant sometimes using interrogation techniques that "were not in accordance with the spirit of the Geneva Conventions and the law of war." U.S. military personnel have routinely abused detainees, as part of the military interrogation process or merely to “relieve stress.” Most of the low-ranking officers who have been charged in the abuse scandal said that they received orders from Military Intelligence personnel as well as superior officers, challenging President Bush’s claims that detainee abuses have been infrequent, exceptional and unrelated to policy, according to Human Rights Watch . Numerous Human rights groups voiced concern over the conditions of detainees held in U.S. custody. Recently, the Human Rights Watch called on Bush’s administration to appoint a special counsel to conduct a widespread criminal investigation of military and civilian personnel, including senior officials, who may been involved in abusing prisoners in U.S. detention centers whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba. |
| 11/06/05 at 07:21:37 |
| abdullahcohn |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |