Torture

Reuters reports today that the White House has begun trying to craft a compromise on the McCain amendment that would ban the use of "cruel, inhumane and degrading" treatment of prisoners. The Senate should ignore any attempt to water down the McCain amendment and Senator McCain (R-AZ) should rebuke Administration attempts to water it down. There can be no compromise on the use of torture. The U.S. should not do it. It doesn't help get any information, prosecute terrorists and it provides an easy recruiting tactic for terrorist groups. Stephen Hadley, on Fox News, stated:

"We comply with U.S. law, we respect the sovereignty of the countries with which we deal, and we do not move people around the world so that they can be tortured,"

This is a lie. The Administration tortures prisoners, a violation of U.S. (and international law), it doesn't respect the sovereignty of other countries and it moves people around the world so they can be tortured. The first claim is disproved by what the Administration does to make a liar out of Hadley on the second and third points. On the second assertion, (even apart from Iraq), if the denials of Eastern European countries are true and there are secret prisions around the region, then the U.S. has clearly violated the sovereignty of the countries where the prisons are located. The reports of these prisons have been very well sourced, as have reports of 'rendition', including one today in the Washington Post.