Administration Says Torture Ban To Not Apply To Guantanamo
Bush administration lawyers, fighting a claim of torture by a Guantanamo Bay detainee, yesterday argued that the new law that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not apply to people held at the military prison.
In federal court yesterday and in legal filings, Justice Department lawyers contended that a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, cannot use legislation drafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to challenge treatment that the detainee's lawyers described as "systematic torture."
Government lawyers have argued that another portion of that same law, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, removes general access to U.S. courts for all Guantanamo Bay captives. Therefore, they said, Mohammed Bawazir, a Yemeni national held since May 2002, cannot claim protection under the anti-torture provisions.
Bawazir's attorneys contend that "extremely painful" new tactics used by the government to force-feed him and end his hunger strike amount to torture.
We can't expect Sen. "Say The Right Thing While Doing The Politically Expedient" McCain to object to this legal hanky-panky. He does want to be elected president in 2008, after all.
I would think that the administration's recent slick "signing statement" perfidiousness would be sufficient to justify torture anywhere they desire to abuse people.
White House lawyers must have determined that a backup opinion was needed.
posted by Effwit at 11:11 AM
10 Comments:
The entire thing is pretty shady. And McCain, if he had any integrity, would have demanded that the additional language be stricken from the legislation. Then again, he was facing enough opposition as it was from Cheney and Bush that he ultimately may have felt the compromise was the best he could do. Who knows?
I'm against all forms of torture, sodomy, and murder - except when conducted in that dug out pit in the deepest recesses of the basement in my mother's house. That place has a special, and fond at that, jurisdictional status in my deformed heart.
DrewL:
It never ends, does it?
McCain slithers quite a bit when it comes to standing up in practice for what he pays lip service to in the media and public.
M1:
Will you be having Chianti with your fava beans this evening, sir?
It's still a toss up between Chianti and mojitos. I like to mix n match, you see.
M1:
In that case, you are a quite refined gentleman.
I would be happy with cheap port and Doritos.
Funny you should say that as I'm now munching away on a bag of Doritos - the cheesier snack...and drinking some benzene spiked Italian bag-in-box Chardonnay.
Are we witnessing the synching of our menstrual cycles cause I hear Twilight Zone music in the background?!
M1:
Kinda like being in the same sorority house.
Sweet.
Probably no Twilight Zone action going on however.
I may simply be abusing the geosync sats.
That brings to mind a movie names The Day of The Triffids and the blinding meteor shower. I gotta lay off the 40s.
M1:
Understood.
As I'm sure you know (or suspect), some of the most bizarre science-fiction type stuff is more real than most people are willing to deal with.
It would be impossible for the authorities to maintain control over a panicked citizenry. Most people are kept ignorant about such matters for their own good and for the good of the nation.
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