McCain on terror interrogations: We're better

Yahoo news (AP) ^ | September 18, 2006 | Joe Magruder

[John Carey]

Sen. John McCain held his ground Sunday in his running disagreement with the Bush administration over rules for CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects.

Article Tools Printer friendly E-mail to a friend N.H. RSS feed Available RSS feeds Most e-mailed Save this article powered by Del.icio.us More: Globe City/Region stories | Latest local news | Globe front page | Boston.com Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Those responsible for Sept. 11 and subsequent terrorism attacks are "the most evil people in the world," he said, "but this issue isn't about them. This issue is about us."

The Navy pilot held captive for five years and tortured by the North Vietnamese said Americans will be captured in future wars, and the U.S. must not set a bad example by allowing harsher interrogation techniques than permitted by the Geneva Conventions.

Speaking to about 70 people at a reception, the Arizona Republican focused on the part of the conventions intended to protect prisoners who do not qualify for the broader protections accorded to prisoners of war -- an Army Special Forces soldier not wearing his uniform, for example, or a CIA officer taken prisoner by Iran.

"That's what we do not want, because Americans would be setting the precedent for changing a treaty that has been untouched by any nation for 57 years," he said.

Both administration officials and the small group of Republicans opposing the administration on the subject said during the weekend they are confident they can reach a compromise.

Though enemies such as al-Qaida flout the Geneva Conventions, as McCain's captors did, McCain said the United States must not. One of the things that sustained Americans in North Vietnamese prisons was the knowledge that "we come from a better nation with better values," McCain said.

[onyx]

I have been watching this poster too.

Finally concluded that maybe he changed the spelling of his surname to fool us: Kerry/Carey.

[onyx]

He's getting killed on this from his friends.
Baaaaaaad advice and he's too stubborn to backtrack now.

[Texasforever]

He's getting killed on this from his friends.

Well he is hell bent on getting US killed so I have little sympathy.

[John Lenin]

Bush adopted McCains plan from last year and now he is against it ? Is he working for the RATS ? He can forget about the GOP nomination and he knows it with this action.

[Mo1]

Jim was being much to easy on McLoser on that thread

[onyx]

I have no sympathy. He listened to Mrs. McCain's JAG interpretation of the Geneva Convention and enlisted the help of a bitter Colin Powell.

[Texasforever]

Jim was being much to easy on McLoser on that thread

In all of my many years there has never been a GOP candidate for president that I couldn't support. McCain will be my first should he somehow become the nominee.

[Texasforever]

bitter Colin Powell.

I have said from the beginning that Powell was GW's biggest mistake.

[Mo1]

I don't think he'll make it out of the primaries .. he's got to be to most hated man in the republican party

Heck .. This morning, Bill Kristol couldn't even defend these recent actions of McLoser's

[onyx]

And Kristol is on his campaign 2008 staff.

[onyx]

I am thankful Powell's wife (Alma?) stopped him from running for elected office, because he might very well have won.

[Richard Axtell]

As I understand it, the rules regarding interrogation are vague at best, and can be interpreted so as to preclude any kind of interrogation at all. But, I also understand that non-unifomed combatants are considered partisans or terrorists, and can be legally executed on the battlefield. It seems to be that this is where all this is leading, no prisoners. Interrogation may still take place, be we all know that a dead man tells no tales.

[onyx]

What's your very own opinion?

[The Red Zone]

Carey also cares about Americans still imprisoned in Vietnam.

[MitchellC]

Well he is hell bent on getting US killed so I have little sympathy.

I second that. Even if the government is using genuine methods of torture on the Islamofascists (and I have no reason to believe it is, given where all the squawking is coming from), if it saves the life of even one non-Islamofascist then it's more than worth it.

[KellyAdmirer]

The Navy pilot held captive for five years and tortured by the North Vietnamese said Americans will be captured in future wars, and the U.S. must not set a bad example by allowing harsher interrogation techniques than permitted by the Geneva Conventions.

That's funny, I didn't realize that all the terrorist groups were parties to the Geneva Convention. In wars between a signatory to the Geneva Convention and a non-signatory (e.g., between Germany and the USSR 1941-45), the Convention has never applied. So I don't see what McCain's point is. Does he think the terrorists who behead captives are abiding by the Geneva Convention?

[msnimje]

If McCain gets his way will be deader.

[msnimje]

Correction = "WE will be deader"

[goldstategop]

We must claim a piece of paper even though to the terrorists it means nothing. We must claim the moral high groud even if that leaves us all dead. John McCain is quite simply clueless about the nature of our enemy.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[Billthedrill]

Ah, Mr. McCain, we're not "better" than this, actually. Beneath the veneer of civilization lies a savagery that the Japanese, for one, did not imagine we could muster before we filled their caves with napalm and touched it off. The only sense in which we are "better" is that we are better at it than our enemies. Quite a bit better. It isn't necessarily something to be proud of, but it's a fact.