McCain Detainee Amendment: Encyclopedia II - McCain Detainee Amendment - Debate within the Republican Party

McCain Detainee Amendment - Debate within the Republican Party

Vice President Dick Cheney has proposed that the CIA be exempt from the Amendment.

On November 2, 2005, the New York Times reported that the administration of President George W. Bush is sharply divided on the issue and are debating "whether a new set of Defense Department standards for handling terror suspects should adopt language from the Geneva Conventions prohibiting 'cruel,' 'humiliating' and 'degrading' treatment. Proponents argue that this language would move the U.S. detention policies closer to international law, would prevent further abuse of detainees and build international support in the War against Terror and against Islamic extremists.

The opponents, including Vice President Cheney, argue that the language is vague, would not be acceptable to critics of the U.S. and would interfere with the ability to combat terrorists. A few days before the submission of the McCain detainee amendment, the United States State Department submitted its Periodic Report of the United States of America to the United Nations Committee Against Torture to the U.N.; the report denied allegations of abuse at Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan, but did not address detainees held by the CIA.

Others pose the hypothetical question of the appropriate limits of interrogation of a terrorist who has information regarding a suitcase bomb or nuclear device -- the ticking time bomb scenario. There are many similar arguments On November 6, 2005, Senator McCain appeared on Fox News and argued that torture does not produce accurate information and that the image of the U.S. is damaged by the perception that it supports torture.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Debate within the Republican Party", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki