The NRO articles claim that the amendment does so, but they do fail to tell how and why. They do go into the background and details of how Miranda warnings were applied in the case of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya.
Searching the 2005 amendment links at the U.S. Senate web pages proved unfruitful. Where in this lengthy amendment is the language that would lead us to think Obama could point at McCain, rather than simply to the earlier, Kenya bombing, field interrogatory practice? Otherwise, there was a recent WSJ piece;How to Handle the Guantanamo Detainees , authored by McCain and Lindsey Graham in which they pointed out that combatants should be tried under the rules of war, not U.S. civil code.
FROM THE WSJ article, referenced & linked, above;
Here is the text of Senate Amendment 1977 to H.R. 2863
SEC. __. PROHIBITION ON CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT OF PERSONS UNDER CUSTODY OR CONTROL OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. (a) In General.--No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the [Page: S10909] United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. (b) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose any geographical limitation on the applicability of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under this section. (c) Limitation on Supersedure.--The provisions of this section shall not be superseded, except by a provision of law enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act which specifically repeals, modifies, or supersedes the provisions of this section. (d) Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Defined.--In this section, the term ``cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment'' means the cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as defined in the United States Reservations, Declarations and Understandings to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment done at New York, December 10, 1984.
And here is the Public Law:
Public Law 109-148 109th Congress SEC. 1003. <> PROHIBITION ON CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT OF PERSONS UNDER CUSTODY OR CONTROL OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. (a) In General.--No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. (b) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose any geographical limitation on the applicability of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under this section. (c) Limitation on Supersedure.--The provisions of this section shall not be superseded, except by a provision of law enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act which specifically repeals, modifies, or supersedes the provisions of this section. [[Page 119 STAT. 2740]] (d) Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Defined.-- In this section, the term ``cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment'' means the cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as defined in the United States Reservations, Declarations and Understandings to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment done at New York, December 10, 1984.
BTW, Wiki is a lousy source for Congressional Records. Try Thomas (Library of Congress) http://thomas.loc.gov/ in the future. If you click on the link I ADDED into McCarthy’s article ‘McCain Amendment’ you’ll see the vote.
I should add, don’t listen to what people say (McCain and Graham in the WSJ), watch what they do.