WASHINGTON – The Senate and the White House will reach agreement on a proposal to ban the use of torture in gaining information from suspected terrorists, Majority Leader Bill Frist predicted on Sunday.
The ban’s sponsor, Sen. John McCain, has said he would refuse to yield on his demands that the Bush administration agree with his plan, which passed the Senate by a 90-9 vote.
McCain, R-Ariz., is insisting on his language that no person in U.S. custody should be subject to “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The administration says the U.S. does not use torture and follows international conventions on the treatment of prisoners. But the White House is wary of restrictions that might prevent interrogators from gaining information vital to the nation’s security.
“I think that there will be – you say a deal,” Frist told “Fox News Sunday.”
“I think there will be clarification of what we mean. How aggressive can one be to get information. Not torture, but, you know, what does degrading mean? Do you not want to degrade a terrorist, not hurt them, but degrade them, if they’re going to take out your family, if they’re going to assassinate you? That’s the question that’s being worked out,” said Frist, R-Tenn.
He said he thought both sides “will come to some understanding which will allow us, in ways consistent with our values, that is legal, to get the appropriate information to protect us.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
