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Cheney pushes senators for exemption to CIA torture ban

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-11-04-cheneytortureban_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

WASHINGTON
Vice President ***** Cheney made an unusual personal appeal to Republican senators
this week to allow CIA exemptions to a proposed ban on the torture of terror suspects
in U.S. custody, according to participants in a closed-door session.
Cheney told his audience the United States doesn't engage in torture, these
participants added, even though he said the administration needed an exemption from
any legislation banning "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment in case the president
decided one was necessary to prevent a terrorist attack.
The vice president made his comments at a regular weekly private meeting of Senate
Republican senators, according to several lawmakers who attended. Cheney often
attends the meetings, a chance for the rank-and-file to discuss legislative strategy,
but he rarely speaks.
In this case, the room was cleared of aides before the vice president began his
remarks, said by one senator to include a reference to classified material. The
officials who disclosed the events spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the
confidential nature of the discussion.
"The vice president's office doesn't have any comment on a private meeting with
members of the Senate," Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for Cheney, said on Friday.
The vice president drew support from at least one lawmaker, Sen. Jeff Sessions of
Alabama, while Arizona Sen. John McCain dissented, officials said.
McCain, who was tortured while held as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, is the
chief Senate sponsor of an anti-torture provision that has twice cleared the Senate
and triggered veto threats from the White House.
Cheney's decision to speak at the meeting underscored both his role as White House
point man on the contentious issue and the importance the administration attaches to
it.
The vice president made his appeal at a time Congress is struggling with the torture
issue in light of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and allegations of mistreatment of
prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The United States houses about 500 detainees at
the naval base there, many of them captured in Afghanistan.
Additionally, human rights organizations contend the United States turns detainees
over to other countries that it knows will use torture to try and extract
intelligence information.
The Senate recently approved a provision banning the "cruel, inhuman or degrading"
treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. The vote was 90-9, and an identical provision
was added to a second measure on a voice vote on Friday.
Comparable House legislation does not include a similar provision, and it is not
clear whether anti-torture language will be included in either of two large defense
measures Congress hopes to send to Bush's desk later this year.
The White House initially tried to kill the anti-torture provision while it was
pending in the Senate, then switched course to lobby for an exemption in cases of
"clandestine counterterrorism operations conducted abroad, with respect to terrorists
who are not citizens of the United States." The president would have to approve the
exemption, and Defense Department personnel could not be involved. In addition, any
activity would have to be consistent with the Constitution, federal law and U.S.
treaty obligations, according to draft changes in the exemption the White House is
seeking.
Cheney also has met several times with McCain, including one session that CIA
Director Porter Goss attended in a secure room in the Capitol.

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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all *****-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.

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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
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