THERE GOES AMERICA'S SOUL

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Detainee interrogation bill wins House approval

The legislation would establish a military court system to prosecute terror suspects, a response to the Supreme Court ruling last June that Congress' blessing was necessary. 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.

With elections just weeks away, the debate over the legal handling of terrorists was often partisan with some Democrats contending the bill would approve torture.

"All Americans want to hold terrorists accountable, but if we try to redefine the nature of torture, whisk people into secret detention facilities and use secret evidence to convict them in special courts, our actions do in fact embolden our enemies," said Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.

Others vehemently opposed language that would give the president wide latitude to interpret international standards of prisoner treatment and bar detainees from going to federal court to protest their treatment and detention under the right of habeas corpus. Supporters of the bill have said eliminating habeas corpus was intended to keep detainees from flooding federal courts with appeals.

The bill also gives the president the ability to interpret international standards for prisoner treatment when an act does not fall under the definition of a war crime, such as rape and torture.

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Make no mistake about it: this bill is all about making Bush's secret torture centers legitimate. Sure, there are some restrictions, but, as far as I can tell, it's much more about giving carte blanche to these Nazi fucks in the White House for all their vile shit. I mean, they're going to get to "interpret" rape? There's nothing to interpret there. Rape is fucking black and white. This stinks as bad as anything I've ever smelled, and fuck the Democrats for not going into over-the-top psychotic hysterics over it. The article makes it sound like there was lots of opposition to the bill, and there was some, but still, a fifth of Democrats in the House actually voted for it. That's unconscionable. I mean, it's unconscionable that even Republicans are voting for it, but it's just sick and twisted that any Democrat at all would ever bless this monstrosity. This isn't about political philosophy or appropriations. This is about fucking torture.

Sick, sick, sick.

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