The Bush administration pledged yesterday to veto legislation banning
the torture of prisoners by US troops after an overwhelming and almost
unprecedented revolt by loyalist congressmen.
The mutiny was the latest setback for an administration facing an
increasingly independent and bloody-minded legislature. But it also
marked a key moment in Congress's campaign to curtail the huge powers it
has granted the White House since 2001 in its war against terrorism.
The late-night Senate vote saw the measure forbidding torture passed by
90 to nine, with most Republicans backing the measure. Most senators
said the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal and similar allegations at the
Guantanamo Bay prison rendered the result a foregone conclusion.
The administration's extraordinary isolation was underlined when the
Senate Republican majority leader, Bill Frist, supported the amendment.
The man behind the legislation, Republican Senator John McCain, who was
tortured as a prisoner in Vietnam, said the move was backed by American
soldiers. His amendment would prohibit the "cruel, inhumane or
degrading" treatment of prisoners in the custody of America's defence
department.
The vote was one of the largest and best supported congressional revolts
during President George W Bush's five years in office and shocked the
White House.
"We have put out a Statement of Administration Policy saying that his
advisers would recommend that he vetoes it if it contains such
language," White House spokesman Scott McClellan warned yesterday.
The administration said Congress was attempting to tie its hands in the
war against terrorism.
The veto would be Mr Bush's first use of his most extreme legislative
option. But senators pointed out that a presidential veto can be
overturned by a two-thirds majority in both houses.
For now the amendment's fate depends on negotiations between the Senate
and the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, which is more loyal
to the administration.
But senators said they were confident that most of the language would
survive and that the issue could pose an extremely awkward dilemma for
the president.
The amendment was attached to the $440 billion (£247 billion) defence
spending bill and if Mr Bush vetoes the amendment, he would have to veto
the entire bill.
That would leave America's armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan short of
cash as early as the middle of next month.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/07/wus207.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/07/ixworld.html
Det er synd for Bush-administrationen, at den sådan skal plages af
vattede og visionsløse folkevalgte senatorer. Forhåbentligt griber
Diebold ind ved næste valghandling og sikrer, at den slags ikke gentager
sig.
PS. Min kommentar indeholder et element af sarkasme.