House approves intel bill after removing provision penalizing cruel interrogations

[cal04]

Source: Associated Press

The House approved an intelligence agency bill Friday after Democratic leaders hastily removed a provision that would have imposed prison sentences for personnel using "cruel, inhuman and degrading" interrogation techniques.

The controversial provision would have subjected intelligence officers to up 15 years in prison for interrogations that violate existing anti-torture laws, including the use of extreme temperatures, acts causing sexual humiliation or depriving a prisoner of food, sleep or medical care.

Republicans strongly protested the measure when the bill came to the floor Thursday, forcing Democrats to pull the bill in order to avoid an unwanted debate on torture that could threaten passage of the legislation. It was reintroduced Friday with the interrogation provision removed.

The bill, passed 235-168, sets policy and classified funding levels for 16 federal intelligence agencies. The Senate has passed its own version, and differences must be worked out.

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/politics/85499827.html

[villager]

1. Just when you think you can't be more disgusted with the spinelessness of the Dems...

...they manage to find new ways of scraping and groveling before their Republican masters...

[Iowa]

13. +1

[leveymg]

2. Here's a blank check for all the money in the world. Do what you want with it.

That's basically the approach.

[jefflrrp]

3. fuck that shit.

If we truly are about freedom, republican/representative democracy, then we need to hold ourselves to a higher stanard. This provision should have stayed in.

[KansDem]

4. GOP = "Pro-Torture Party"

The 17 federal intelligence agencies:

Air Force Intelligence
Army Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
Coast Guard Intelligence
Defense Intelligence Agency
Department of Energy
Department of Homeland Security
Department of State
Department of the Treasury
Drug Enforcement Administration
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Marine Corps Intelligence
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Reconnaissance Office
National Security Agency
Navy Intelligence
Office of the Director of National Intelligence
http://www.intelligence.gov/about-the-intelligence-community/

When was the last time we heard anything critical about Coast Guard Intelligence or the National Reconnaissance Office? Or is it only the CIA that tortures...

[bvar22]

8. Um..It is "The Democrats" who passed this bill...

..protecting The War Criminals.

No way around that fact.

[KansDem]

9. True, but they conceded to the GOP

I don't hold the Dems unaccountable; I resent the way they placate the GOP. But this bill wouldn't have been watered down if the GOP didn't complain so bitterly.

There shouldn't even have been a debate about torture; both parties should denounce it. But it appears torture is "business as usual" with the GOP.

[Owl]

5. Disgusting! Why do the Dems continue to act so cowardly and powerless?

[Webster Green]

6. Wow! They really have destroyed our country.

Very sad. I think I gotta get out of this place.

Or, perhaps I should stay and fight them. Decisions, decisions. :think:

[Jefferson23]

7. I give Reyes a lot of credit for trying.

Sylvestre Reyes Inserts Anti-Torture Provision Into Intelligence Funding Bill.
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=02&year=2010&base_name=sylvestre_reyes_inserts_antito

[Tailormyst]

10. This was why we worked so hard for a majority huh?

assholes.

[Arctic Dave]

11. Meet the new boss.....

Woohoo, gotta love that majority. Does anyone actually believe Obama when he says we don't torture anymore?

[Iowa]

14. I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth.

[some guy]

12. 235 confirm

and embrace their war criminal status.

May they all be properly convicted and hanged.

[Metta]

15. Afraid to even have the discusstion, eh? Happy karma to one and all there.

Torture are us, then.

[rachael7]

16. Isn't torture already illegal?

Under several different ratified treaties and federal laws? I'm all for tougher laws about it, don't get me wrong. But let's not kid ourselves that passing one more law further illegalizing something that is already illegal will make a damn bit of difference. It's clear that the oligarchy is above the laws meant for us mere mortals and they would only ignore this one too.

[sabra]

17. Democrats back down on controversial interrogation proposal

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) – House Republicans were still hammering away at Democrats on Friday, one day after pressuring the majority to withdraw a controversial amendment to an intelligence funding bill that would have criminally punished intelligence officers for conducting harsh interrogations.

On the House floor, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, called the provision "deplorable," and said it was symptomatic in how some in Congress and the administration view intelligence officials. "Their reflex action is to blame the intelligence community first," he said.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he was glad the Democrats decided to take what he called a "lousy" amendment out of the bill, but criticized them for "sneaking" it into the overall money bill without any debate or hearings.

Earlier this week, the House Rules Committee added several amendments to the intelligence funding bill, including an 11-page provision that specifies criminal penalties for "any officer or employee of the intelligence community who, in the course of or in anticipation of a covered interrogation, knowingly commits, attempts to commit, or conspires to commit an act of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment."

The acts defined in the amendment include beatings, electric shock, waterboarding, deprivation of food, water or sleep and violations of the suspects religious beliefs. The intelligence officers would face up to 15 years in prison or life behind bars if the detainee dies.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/26/democrats-back-down-on-controversial-interrogation-proposal/?fbid=VP2LgjjHQ1T

[villager]

18. There's a redundancy in the headline - it has "Democrats" and "back down"

...whereas the former always infers the latter...

[katandmoon]

28. +1

[tpsbmam]

44. +1000

[mikelgb]

19. Democrats: There's always room for Jell-o

[pleah]

20. Is there no hope that the democrats will ever grow a fucking spine? n/t

[Goldstein1984]

21. Another redundancy...

"no hope" and "Democrats."

[Enthusiast]

22. Democrats = too weak to lead.

Apparently.

[bread_and_roses]

23. How sick is it that punishing torturers is called "controversial?"

and our spineless congresscritters cave at the mere word?

[TriplD]

26. It wouldn't be "controversial" proposal

if Republicans had any morals or respect for their obligation to the Constitution.

[Rhiannon12866]

42. +1000

:crazy:

[Wardoc]

24. A different day, but the SOS. Dems DESERVE the epic smackdown they get in Nov. (nt)

[Hubert H. Hubert]

25. This thread is useless without pics

:banghead:

[frylock]

27. jon stewart is right. dems = pussies

[No Elephants]

29. Funny, I never thought Stewart was a dick before.

Yet, only a dick would still be equating weakness with female genitalia in 2010.

Men really need to get over their inferiority complex.

(Yes, I know I used "dick" like he used "pussies.")

[frylock]

33. lighten up

francis

[No Elephants]

34. Your obsession with a talking mule is not surprising.

[frylock]

35. your obsession with obsessions is obsessive

[saracat]

30. Dems are so afraid they won't look manly! This is sick.Human rights aren't

bargaining chips.Yet we see this more and more. Sigh. This is what all that election money bought.

[No Elephants]

31. When the going gets tough, who would you rather see in your corner, Pelosi or Reid?

IOW, maybe looking womanly is at least as good as looking manly.

[saracat]

39. Seriously, Pelosi. She is a lot smarter.

[hootinholler]

40. Grayson n/t

[lib2DaBone]

32. No No No... Intelligence Funding... i.e. A Black Hole to throw Cash...

We need JOBS JOBS JOBS.. not more DEA and CEA slimebags slithering around the world.. what a waste!

{{{{DEMS}}}}} WAKE UP...

[Written__Republic]

36. A Cause without a Voice

There does not seem to be any political will to rectify the path we are going down. The right is engulfed by rhetoric and the left is waiting for a sign.

And i am not talking about the politicians.. i am talking about the constituents.

Until the left begins to find its voice again.. there will be no progress.

[readmoreoften]

37. Welcome!

:hi:

[Overseas]

38. House Republicans fought against a bill to punish officers for committing torture.

Republicans don't want officers criminally punished for committing torture.

The USA spends more on its military and national security than most other nations COMBINED, and we are still so weak that we have to practice torture to achieve our goals? How pathetic is that?

Intelligence professionals have long said torture doesn't work and our legislators know that.

If we practice torture on our enemy captives, then so will the other side, thus endangering our troops who the Republicans purport to love.

But my main beef is that we SPEND TRILLIONS already and they're saying we still can't do our jobs without torture? We are really really inept then.

Because the Bush Gang pushed torture and Bin Laden ran free for lo those many years.

Looks good on "24" so never mind that it doesn't work?

[peacebird]

41. republicans don't want ANYONE prosecuted for torture lest it opens the floodgates

because they know the culpability ran straight through Cheneys office and probably up to bush.

[Overseas]

43. I was reminding us all that it is the Republicans who do not want to prosecute torturers

even though resorting to torture makes us look so pathetic, after we spend trillions more than all other countries and can't even manage to defend ourselves with all that money without resorting to war crimes.

Of course they want to protect their darling Bush Gang of Torturers. That's a given.

[Solly Mack]

45. K&R

Sick country

[Uncle Joe]

46. The problem with this attempt by the Democrats is that it didn't go to the top.

They allowed the Republicans to ride this high horse B.S. in defending low level intelligence officers carrying out the very orders; Republicans with some Democrats initiated.

It's isn't the intelligence officers that need guidance or to be held accountable on what constitutes torture, it's the political and legal "leaders" that either spawned or enabled these atrocities.

If the Democrats don't confront this issue at the top, they give up their moral authority to dictate it to those at the bottom, particularly when the Republicans are so eager to defend the lower level as false champions; to protect their own toxic legacy.

Thanks for the thread, sabra.

[Rage for Order]

47. Good

The amendment was too broad and vague, and entirely too subjective

[jaded_old_cynic]

49. Wow.

I'm just trying to wrap my brain around that headline... Controversial? So now the suggestion that we don't torture prisoners is considered controversial? Wow..... Just wow.

Peace.

[depakid]

48. Still a nation of torturers