by James Glaser
October 26, 2005

Three weeks ago the Senate voted 90 to 9 to ban "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of any detainee held by the United States government." This was Senator John McCain's bill. McCain suffered torture by the hands of the North Vietnamese, and could explain the experience to his colleagues.

This week, Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA director, Porter J. Goss met with Senator McCain, asking him to amend his bill, so that our country could still torture detainees with inhuman means. They said President Bush needed maximum flexibility in dealing with the global war on terrorism. McCain rejected the proposed change in his bill.

George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the CIA feel we need to fight terror with terror by torturing those we suspect might want to harm America.

WKRC of Cincinnati, reports about Defense Department data on the torture we have been doing under President Bush. "In one case, the report said, a detainee died after being smothered during interrogation by military intelligence officers in November 2003. In another case cited by the report, a prisoner died of asphyxiation and blunt force injuries after he was left standing, shackled to the top of a door frame, with a gag in his mouth."

Last year I reported about one Afghan prisoner, who was kicked to death by American guards, while he was chained to a wire ceiling.

To date the Pentagon has investigated 400 reports of detainee abuse, and 230 military personnel have received a court-martial, non-judicial punishment or other administration action.

An analysis released by the ACLU on Monday of the Defense Department data says that at least 21 detainees, who died in US custody, were homicides. The Bush administration doesn't just torture people, they kill them too.

The Defense Department didn't just release this information, it was released because of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

For some sick reason the Bush administration has a "need" to torture people. We went through the Cold War and won, without legalizing torture. There is something sick in any nation that passes or even trys to pass a law that makes treating a man or woman in an "inhuman way," legal.