Some Republicans Oppose Prisoner Abuse

It’s always good to see signs that not all Republicans are going along with Bush Administration policies, as well as to see that there are some journalists who still look for real stories:

Soul of Republican Party at stake in prison-abuse scandal debate

By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - There is a quiet struggle going on in the nation’s capital, and the stakes are the very soul of the Republican Party and this administration.

Three senior Republican senators wrote a small amendment into the Defense Appropriations bill this summer that outlaws cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of all detainees in American custody.

No one can call Sens. John Warner, R-Va., Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., soft on anything, much less terrorism. They constitute the Republican leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee. All three have worn the uniform of our country. One, John McCain, spent long years in the hands of America’s enemies as a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton.

The Bush White House is doing all that it can to stop this legislation from passing. Vice President Dick Cheney took the three senators to the wood shed and told them that their law would tie President Bush’s hands in the war against terrorism. His bombast carried no weight with the three senators.

More