As
other diaries have noted, there are
news reports that Bush is bowing to pressure on the torture amendment.
Hold on a minute...this is the Bush administration we are talking about...
Flipadee-do-dah for details from Think Progress
However, the administration has not relented in its efforts to undercut the amendment by other means. It is continuing to press for changes to a related provision sponsored by Senators Graham and Levin which was inserted into the Senate bill with no hearings and virtually no debate.
Graham-Levin is already a seriously flawed provision: it chips away at the ancient right of habeas corpus, restricting the ability of detainees at Guantánamo to have an independent court review of the factual basis for their detention. It should be removed from the bill and assigned to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, so that it can be given the careful consideration that such fundamental changes in the law deserve.
Instead, the proposed administration changes would make the Graham-Levin provision worse, undercutting the McCain amendment by:
* Barring Guantánamo detainees from applying to any court of law for relief from torture or cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment; and
* Permitting the government to use evidence in court that has been obtained through the use of torture or abuse of prisoners at Guantánamo.
If this language were to become law, it would create incentives for the government to continue to engage in the very practices that gave rise to the McCain amendment, and would make it impossible for the victims of such practices to present their claims before an impartial judge.
Never midunderestimate the depths to which BushCo will sink.