US Rep Sam Johnson, (R-TX) Plano, wants John McCain's torture ban to go up in smoke:
LINK
With the moral authority of a former prisoner of war, Sen. John McCain is pushing to ban torture. Now, one of his former cellmates in the Hanoi Hilton, Rep. Sam Johnson of Plano - whose mangled hand gives testament to the horrors he endured after being shot down in Vietnam - is working to block the measure.
Mr. Johnson has circulated a letter to colleagues arguing that the McCain proposal, which sailed through the Senate, 90-9, would needlessly hamper counter-terrorism efforts...
What kind of people are these? I mean... "Yes, let's use torture. We have to keep our options open." ? That is the depth to which the United States has fallen? Do we have no moral courage? Is there nothing to separate us from "the terrorists"?
I hope there is. I hope - I wish I could be sure - I hope the American people will oppose the proponents of torture. Sam Johnson's position is the road down oblivion. The path by which our nation will lose any and all respect ... well, what's left of it... anywhere in the world.
Here we have a man who suffered torture himself - his gnarled hands prove it - and he wants to be able to torture others.
"I can't imagine what he's thinking," said Mark Ensalaco, director of the international studies and human rights program at the University of Dayton.
"America should never do to anyone, even our worst enemies, what the Vietnamese did to John McCain and Sam Johnson," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director of Human Rights Watch.
There must be a clear, bright line that defines us. The US must be a reason for other nations to admire our freedom, values and human rights stances (if can we regain our senses). I remember the days when foreign households the world over displayed photos of John F Kennedy and thanked the USA for things like the Peace Corps, hospital ships, famine relief, and opposing tyranny. We weren't a perfect nation, but we were an admirable nation. We provided hope for those who had little.
Yet, if you are an ally of Bush, what the hell! "Freedom" is not a REAL thing. It's only a trademark, a marketing slogan to be bandied about. It doesn't mean anything!
Seymore Hersh claims that Bush is determined to pursue his Iraq policy because "God wants him to". Bush's mind is so far gone that he "doesn't hear" contradictory news.
(Up in the Air - Where is the Iraq war headed next? December 5, 2005 edition, LINK )
Bush's closest advisers have long been aware of the religious nature of his policy commitments. In recent interviews, one former senior official, who served in Bush's first term, spoke extensively about the connection between the President's religious faith and his view of the war in Iraq. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the former official said, he was told that Bush felt that "God put me here" to deal with the war on terror. The President's belief was fortified by the Republican sweep in the 2002 congressional elections;
Bush saw the victory as a purposeful message from God that "he's the man," the former official said. Publicly, Bush depicted his reëlection as a referendum on the war; privately, he spoke of it as another manifestation of divine purpose.
The former senior official said that after the election he made a lengthy inspection visit to Iraq and reported his findings to Bush in the White House: "I said to the President, `We're not winning the war.' And he asked, `Are we losing?' I said, `Not yet.' " The President, he said, "appeared displeased" with that answer.
"I tried to tell him," the former senior official said. "And he couldn't hear it."
In the name of all that is HOLY, what twisted mind believes that GOD wants TORTURE?
"I feel very strongly about this because I know what torture is. Torture is already against the law, and John's proposal doesn't make it any more illegal," said Mr. Johnson, who spent seven years as a POW and left the service with two Silver Stars, a Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.
He said federal law already bans torture, and the proposed language - which also rules out cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of foreign prisoners - would give enemy fighters tips for withstanding interrogation.
"I'm afraid John's proposal will drastically diminish our ability to gather intelligence," he said.
You would think that compliance with US-signed and Senate-ratified International Treaties - the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture, existing U.S. law and more - would be enough. But even so... Even if international shame and disgrace resulting from broken treaties -- along with further endangering our OWN troops -- would be enough. But, what do they think God thinks? Do they have no conscience at all?
Mr. Johnson denied that anyone in the administration had asked or encouraged him to oppose the McCain amendment, though as a fellow POW, his position would give political cover to likeminded lawmakers.
Mr. McCain did not respond to requests to comment. Although both are Republicans, their politics have often diverged. The senator is a former rival and sometime critic of President Bush, while Mr. Johnson has been one of the president's most reliable allies.
During Senate debate on Mr. McCain's measure in October, CIA Director Porter Goss and Vice President Dick Cheney sought, unsuccessfully, to exempt the CIA from the provision.
President Bush and other top officials say the U.S. does not torture prisoners or send them to other countries to be tortured. But he has threatened to veto legislation that contains the ban, saying it could hamper interrogators.
Double-speak. 1984. War is Peace. "We do not torture, but I will veto torture prohibitions."
Human rights advocates say the administration has also argued that the ban on cruel and inhumane treatment does not apply to interrogations of non-U.S. citizens that take place outside this country. And they accuse the administration of applying an overly narrow definition of "torture."
"It's public knowledge that the CIA has used 'waterboarding,' mock executions, extended sleep deprivations and other forms of severe mistreatment of detainees," Mr. Malinowski said.
The world knows the facts. The American people are waking up to the facts. But the Bush administration and their cronies have no shame. They have no compunction about what their frequently invoked Lord will think of their transgressions.
Whatever we think of McCain, his No Torture Amendment is clearly in the historic tradition of enlightenment that this nation was founded upon and that made this nation a model for other aspirations world-wide.
The McCain amendment - which seeks to clarify and broaden what constitutes torture - would prohibit torture of suspected terrorists and limit interrogations to techniques set out in the Army Field Manual. It would apply to prisoners in U.S. custody, regardless of whether they are American or held on U.S. soil.
Dr. Ensalaco called the proposal "critically important." It is needed to uphold the U.S. commitment to the Geneva Conventions and international laws banning torture, to give U.S. forces clear rules and to send the proper signal to the world after the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, he said.
"What we are asking for is a reaffirmation of a fundamental moral principle of our civilization: we do not torture," he said.
If we do not torture, then CLEARLY, OPENLY, WHOLE-HEARTEDLY BAN Torture! Banish it from the land. Otherwise... Otherwise, we know what BushCo is doing through all their lies. Their actions speak louder than words. If/when Bush vetoes McCain Amendment-bearing legislation, he will be admitting to the world that his administration is odious beyond belief... beyond compare among modern civilized nations.
Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a lawyer who has represented Guantánamo detainees, called Mr. Johnson's stance "very bizarre" and "completely inexplicable."
"He has moral authority because he was a torture victim. But there's no moral authority in a position that says people can be tortured or subjected to cruel or inhuman treatment," he said.