The House failed to override President Bush's veto of a bill requiring all U.S. government interrogators to adhere to the Army Field Manual standards for interrogation, which prohibit torture. I refuse to use the term "enhanced interrogation techniques." It's torture.
And at the insistence of the president, America will continue to commit torture.
The vetoed legislation would have limited the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation methods approved in the Army field manual. That guidebook bans the use of waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning. CIA Director Michael Hayden has confirmed that the spy agency used the technique on three terrorist suspects in 2002 and 2003.The 225-188 House roll call was 51 votes short of the two-thirds majority required to overturn a veto. Bush has vetoed seven bills during his tenure, and only once has Congress mustered the votes to override his veto.
The interrogation limits are part of a bill authorizing intelligence spending for the current fiscal year. Bush vetoed it on Saturday. It is the first intelligence authorization bill produced by Congress in three years.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, attempted to frame the vote as a human rights referendum. "This is about torture," he said, a refrain repeated by other Democrats who spoke in support of the override.
Just take a moment to let this sink in. The United States of America has willingly - nay, willfully - abandoned any and all moral authority with regard to the humane treatment of prisoners. Apparently, 9-11 made us barbarians.
I pray that God has mercy on this generation of Americans. I fear that history will have none.
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