thedrifter
12-06-05, 09:03 AM
A fellow torture victim splits with Sen. McCain
By Jonathan Allen
The Hill
Two highly decorated veterans who were held captive together in a Vietnamese prison camp more than three decades ago find themselves nose to nose today over U.S. policy on torture.
In a draft letter circulated to some rank-and-file Republican colleagues but not sent, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) asks the top House defense appropriators to exclude from a defense-spending conference report the anti-torture provision added to the Senate version of the bill by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
The McCain amendment would limit American interrogators to techniques prescribed by the Army Field Manual and prohibit “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” of prisoners in U.S. custody, regardless of nationality or physical location.
“This provision could have devastating effects and is entirely unwarranted,” Johnson wrote in an unsigned and undated draft of the letter obtained by The Hill.
The McCain anti-torture language will likely be dropped from the spending bill but included, in some form, in the defense authorization bill, according to Republican aides. Committee staff worked over the weekend to iron out remaining trouble spots in the authorization measure.
Despite 90 votes supporting the McCain amendment in the Senate, the administration has threatened to veto either bill if it contains the amendment’s language. White House officials, most notably Vice President Cheney, have long sought to thwart McCain’s effort.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a speech yesterday that the United States neither employs nor condones torture.
“The United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture,” Rice said.
But a question remains about the definition of “torture.” McCain seeks to answer that question with his amendment.
His provision defines cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as anything prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth or 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
For now, the White House is negotiating directly with McCain, leaving other lawmakers, including Johnson and Republican congressional leaders, on the periphery.
“Everyone else is sort of a sideline player at this point,” one senior House Republican aide said. “The reality is McCain has the votes.”
It is not clear whether Johnson’s letter was held back because it lacked signatures, could not stop McCain from getting votes or is already supported by GOP leaders, or for another reason. Johnson was not available to comment, and McCain’s office did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Political differences are nothing new for Johnson and McCain, who were held in the same cell in Vietnam. When McCain ran for president in 2000, Johnson backed fellow Texan George W. Bush.
“I happened to be with McCain for the last year and a half in a prison camp over there in Vietnam. I know him pretty well … and I can tell you, he cannot hold a candle to George Bush,” Johnson said at a Bush campaign rally, according to the Knight Ridder News Service.
“John’s a great friend and a great American, but you know what? George Bush is pushing an agenda that will help America in the long run,” he told CNN on the day of that year’s decisive South Carolina primary.
They also found themselves at odds over U.S. efforts to normalize relations with Vietnam, with McCain in favor and Johnson opposed, and they have split on McCain’s signature campaign-finance overhaul efforts.
In the case of the anti-torture amendment, their divergence reflects a deep national divide over the treatment of American-held captives. Much as they differ over the policy, Johnson and McCain employ sharply contrasting tactics on the political battlefield.
While McCain assiduously pursues publicity to achieve his legislative and political goals, Johnson prefers an audience of colleagues. Though it landed in Republican inboxes across Capitol Hill, Johnson’s letter was not distributed to reporters by his office.
McCain said when he introduced the amendment that the need for intelligence in the war on terrorism is obvious.
“What should also be obvious is that the intelligence we collect must be reliable and acquired humanely, under clear standards understood by all our fighting men and women,” he said. “To do differently would not only offend our values as Americans but undermine our war effort because abuse of prisoners harms, not helps, us in the war on terror.”
But Johnson argues that interrogators must have flexibility as they try to pry information from detainees.
“Requiring the Field Manual to detail every type and means for interrogation and making it the sole authority on interrogation techniques would give our enemies advance knowledge, allowing them to train their people to withstand our procedures,” he wrote.
“Having to potentially sift through thousands of pages of proper techniques in order to get interrogation authorization would likely compromise our ability to control the process, potentially preventing us from attaining valuable information that could avert future attacks,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson’s unsent letter was addressed to House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Young (Fla.) and the top Democrat on the panel, John Murtha (Pa.). But Murtha is preparing a motion to instruct conferees, who have not yet been named by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), to keep the McCain amendment.
In late October, 15 House Republicans wrote to Young asking him to include it in the conference report.
House critics of McCain appear unwilling to challenge the former prisoner of war on torture even with cover from Johnson, whose medals include two Silver Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts, two Legions of Merit and a Bronze Star.
“I wasn’t really as courageous as Sam Johnson,” McCain, who was awarded many of the same medals, told The Dallas Morning News for a 2003 profile of Johnson. “I mean that. He suffered a lot more than I did.”
Ellie
By Jonathan Allen
The Hill
Two highly decorated veterans who were held captive together in a Vietnamese prison camp more than three decades ago find themselves nose to nose today over U.S. policy on torture.
In a draft letter circulated to some rank-and-file Republican colleagues but not sent, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) asks the top House defense appropriators to exclude from a defense-spending conference report the anti-torture provision added to the Senate version of the bill by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
The McCain amendment would limit American interrogators to techniques prescribed by the Army Field Manual and prohibit “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” of prisoners in U.S. custody, regardless of nationality or physical location.
“This provision could have devastating effects and is entirely unwarranted,” Johnson wrote in an unsigned and undated draft of the letter obtained by The Hill.
The McCain anti-torture language will likely be dropped from the spending bill but included, in some form, in the defense authorization bill, according to Republican aides. Committee staff worked over the weekend to iron out remaining trouble spots in the authorization measure.
Despite 90 votes supporting the McCain amendment in the Senate, the administration has threatened to veto either bill if it contains the amendment’s language. White House officials, most notably Vice President Cheney, have long sought to thwart McCain’s effort.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a speech yesterday that the United States neither employs nor condones torture.
“The United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture,” Rice said.
But a question remains about the definition of “torture.” McCain seeks to answer that question with his amendment.
His provision defines cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as anything prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth or 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
For now, the White House is negotiating directly with McCain, leaving other lawmakers, including Johnson and Republican congressional leaders, on the periphery.
“Everyone else is sort of a sideline player at this point,” one senior House Republican aide said. “The reality is McCain has the votes.”
It is not clear whether Johnson’s letter was held back because it lacked signatures, could not stop McCain from getting votes or is already supported by GOP leaders, or for another reason. Johnson was not available to comment, and McCain’s office did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Political differences are nothing new for Johnson and McCain, who were held in the same cell in Vietnam. When McCain ran for president in 2000, Johnson backed fellow Texan George W. Bush.
“I happened to be with McCain for the last year and a half in a prison camp over there in Vietnam. I know him pretty well … and I can tell you, he cannot hold a candle to George Bush,” Johnson said at a Bush campaign rally, according to the Knight Ridder News Service.
“John’s a great friend and a great American, but you know what? George Bush is pushing an agenda that will help America in the long run,” he told CNN on the day of that year’s decisive South Carolina primary.
They also found themselves at odds over U.S. efforts to normalize relations with Vietnam, with McCain in favor and Johnson opposed, and they have split on McCain’s signature campaign-finance overhaul efforts.
In the case of the anti-torture amendment, their divergence reflects a deep national divide over the treatment of American-held captives. Much as they differ over the policy, Johnson and McCain employ sharply contrasting tactics on the political battlefield.
While McCain assiduously pursues publicity to achieve his legislative and political goals, Johnson prefers an audience of colleagues. Though it landed in Republican inboxes across Capitol Hill, Johnson’s letter was not distributed to reporters by his office.
McCain said when he introduced the amendment that the need for intelligence in the war on terrorism is obvious.
“What should also be obvious is that the intelligence we collect must be reliable and acquired humanely, under clear standards understood by all our fighting men and women,” he said. “To do differently would not only offend our values as Americans but undermine our war effort because abuse of prisoners harms, not helps, us in the war on terror.”
But Johnson argues that interrogators must have flexibility as they try to pry information from detainees.
“Requiring the Field Manual to detail every type and means for interrogation and making it the sole authority on interrogation techniques would give our enemies advance knowledge, allowing them to train their people to withstand our procedures,” he wrote.
“Having to potentially sift through thousands of pages of proper techniques in order to get interrogation authorization would likely compromise our ability to control the process, potentially preventing us from attaining valuable information that could avert future attacks,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson’s unsent letter was addressed to House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Young (Fla.) and the top Democrat on the panel, John Murtha (Pa.). But Murtha is preparing a motion to instruct conferees, who have not yet been named by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), to keep the McCain amendment.
In late October, 15 House Republicans wrote to Young asking him to include it in the conference report.
House critics of McCain appear unwilling to challenge the former prisoner of war on torture even with cover from Johnson, whose medals include two Silver Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts, two Legions of Merit and a Bronze Star.
“I wasn’t really as courageous as Sam Johnson,” McCain, who was awarded many of the same medals, told The Dallas Morning News for a 2003 profile of Johnson. “I mean that. He suffered a lot more than I did.”
Ellie