Senate re-endorses ban on prisoner abuse

WASHINGTON — The Senate restated its support on Friday for banning the abusive treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody, and the measure's Republican sponsor chided the House Republican leadership for delaying a vote on it.

The Senate last month approved the same provision, 90-9. On Friday, senators endorsed it again, this time by a unanimous voice vote, and attached it to a revised military spending bill. The White House has threatened to veto the bill if it includes the measure, saying the provision would restrict the president's ability to protect the country.

The measure, written by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would ban the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody. It would also require all U.S. troops to use only those questioning techniques authorized in a new Army field manual.

McCain took the Senate floor on Friday to criticize opponents of his provision, including the House Republican leadership, which is delaying work on the spending bill in what Democrats say is an effort to spare Vice President Dick Cheney an embarrassing setback. Cheney lobbied McCain unsuccessfully to exempt the CIA from the provisions. House Republicans have told the White House the measure will probably pass.

"I would hope that no one seeks procedural maneuvers to thwart overwhelming majorities in both chambers," McCain said. "A bicameral, bipartisan majority in support of this amendment will prevail. Even if the will of the majority is thwarted this month, if it is thwarted next month, it will not be denied indefinitely. If necessary, and I sincerely hope it is not, I and the co-sponsors of this amendment will seek to add it to every piece of important legislation voted on in the Senate until the will of a substantial bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress prevails."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also promised to fight lawmakers who tried to delay or scuttle the measure. "I will not entertain a retreat," Graham sail. "I will not entertain an exception that washes away what we've been fighting for."

More than 24 retired senior military officers, including Colin L. Powell and John M. Shalikashvili, two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have endorsed McCain's amendment.

"Subjecting prisoners to abuse leads to bad intelligence, because under torture a detainee will tell his interrogator anything to make the pain stop," McCain said. "Second, mistreatment of our prisoners endangers U.S. troops who might be captured by the enemy — if not in this war, then in the next. "

McCain said the administration's opposition to his amendment was hurting the United States' image abroad. "This means that America is the only country in the world that asserts a legal right to engage in cruel and inhumane treatment," he said.

The Senate is expected to consider another contentious detainee-related issue next week when it debates an amendment to a separate military budget bill sponsored by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., that would create an independent commission to review accusations of prisoner abuse by U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere. The White House has also threatened a veto if any bill arrives on President Bush's desk with the provision.