After months of abstract debate and vague denials, said The Washington Post in an editorial, we're finally getting a fuller picture of how the Bush administration interrogates suspected terrorists. With political pressure mounting to ban torture, CIA sources last week described six 'œenhanced interrogation techniques' to ABC News. These include 'œshaking or striking detainees in an effort to cause pain and fear,' and soaking prisoners in cold water and forcing them to stand naked and shivering in a 50-degree cell for hours. Then there is 'œwaterboarding,' whereby a prisoner is bound to an inclined board, his face wrapped in cellophane, while water is poured over him; within seconds, he begins gagging and is overcome by the terrifying sensation of drowning. CIA director Porter Goss insisted that all of the 'œunique and innovative ways' the U.S. collects 'œvital information' are perfectly legal and 'œnot torture.' This administration insists on playing 'œgames with words,' said David Luban in The Washington Post, but no one is being fooleI AM d. It's obvious to Americans, and to the world, that we've crossed the line into 'œcruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.'
The only remaining question, said Elisa Massimino in the Los Angeles Times, is why the Bush administration won't back off. The U.S. Senate, by a 90'“9 vote, has backed Sen. John McCain's amendment to bar American authorities from using degrading interrogation methods. But the White House is so instinctively opposed to any limits on the 'œpowers of the commander in chief' that it has vowed to veto the amendment. In a 'œcivilized society,' said The Boston Globe in an editorial, it 'œshould not be necessary' to ban torture. But with a vice president who insists we must be willing to go to 'œthe dark side' to fight terrorism, we have to spell out some limits in black and white.
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