The Senator Supports Torture Because...

Remember the nine Republican Senators who voted against the McCain amendment that would ban the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in the custody of the U.S. military? Remember that he provision, inserted in a military spending bill, also would restrict interrogation techniques to those authorized in the U.S. Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation? Well the Washington Post asked those Seantors to justify themselves and printed their replies.

Here's a summary:

Sen. Wayne Allard (Colo.) - "It was 'bad apples' who were doing the torturing so restricing them to the Army Field Manual is useless."

Sen. Christopher S. Bond (Mo.) - "Torture is bad but might be useful for getting information."

Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.) - "I hate torture but don't want to tie the hands of undercover agents."

Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.) - "terrorists are a special case."

Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.) - "Bad apples, not government policy."

Sen. James M. Inhofe (Okla.) - "Being against torture emboldens the terrorists."

Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.) - "I hate torture BUT torture is useful AND we shouldn't tell the terrorists we won't torture them."

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) - "Bad apples mumble mutter."

Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska) - "I'm worried about foreigners who torture on our behalf."

Basically, three of the Senators are going for the "it was only 'bad apples' who were torturing and the authorities are on top of it so no law is needed to stop the administration using torture while the others argue the Realpolitik line that torture can be useful for extracting information and so we shouldn't tie the administrations hands from using it.

Which means exactly and only three Senators out of the whole bunch are willing to back Bush and Rummie's "bad apples' line (but one gets the impression even they don't really believe it, they are just being ass-lickers) and every single other Senator believes the torture and abuse of prisoners was sanctioned by this administration...its just that six of them are OK with that.

To those six, I suggest a quick browse of the accounts of witch trials in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Torture can make you say your cat turned into a big guy with horns and a scaly dick who then sodomized you and your friends, honestly it did but please just stop the pain! That's truly useful intelligence right there.