The House just approved a bill that allows the US Government to interrogate and prosecute terrorism detainees. Sounds good. There is some key phrasing that I must stress, however:
While the bill would grant defendants more legal rights than they had under the administration's old system, it nevertheless would eliminate rights usually granted in civilian and military courts.
The measure also provides extensive definitions of war crimes such as torture, rape and biological experiments — but gives Bush broad authority to decide which other techniques U.S. interrogators can legally use. The provisions are intended to protect
CIA interrogators from being prosecuted for war crimes.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060927/ap_on_go_co/congress_terrorism
The bill will more or less move terrorism and war crime cases to military courts and out of federal courts. This will make it very difficult for detainees to file abuse charges against the US, specifically the CIA.
There is also some concern that the new measures may encourage other countries to limit the rights of captured US troops, putting our guys in even more unnecessary danger.
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