Will Senate back Bush on interrogation limits?

[Roon]

White House wants lawmakers to shield CIA officers who use harsh tactics

WASHINGTON - To many of President Bush’s allies, it is time to free intelligence officials from “legislative purgatory” and get the CIA back in the business of effective interrogations of suspected terrorists.

That chance could come this week if the Senate takes up a White House proposal limiting the punishable offenses that CIA interrogators may face when questioning “high-value” terrorist suspects. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is expected to begin debate on the bill as early as Tuesday.

Through omissions and legal definitions, the proposal could authorize harsh techniques that critics contend potentially violate the Geneva Conventions, which govern the treatment of war prisoners. These methods include hypothermia, stress positions and “waterboarding,” a practice of simulated drowning.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14753833/

[joemurphy]

1. Why would we want to shield CIA agents engaged in

torturing people? That we are even asking the question is absurd. This isn't Nazi Germany and the CIA shouldn't be the Gestapo.

"Intelligence" extracted from torture is inherently unreliable anyway. I don't understand this love-affair that the Bush Administration has with this crap. I sincerely hope the Democrats take a principled stand against this sort of thing. It makes me ashamed to think that my country would countenance it.