So let's get this straight. The Obama administration is opposed to torture and supposedly has outlawed it but it is not in favor of punishing anyone for using it! Maybe the US just opposes torture in principle but is not in favor of taking any measures that might actually discourage its use even if it is illegal.
House Abandons Intel Budget Vote Over Opposition to Torture Ban
Posted By Jason Ditz
House Democrats stopped a vote last night over the $50 billion classified intelligence budget following growing opposition from Republicans and moderate Democrats to a provision which would have criminalized the torture of detainees.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)The “Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Interrogation Act of 2010” specifically banned a long list of forms of abuse and torture, and threatened interrogators with 15 years in prison for violating the bans. Interrogators would face up to life in prison if they tortured the detainee to death.
Several Republican Congressmen, led by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) termed the amendment “outrageous,” claiming it was an attack on the intelligence community. Centrist Democrats joined in, threatening to oppose the bill as well, and the House leadership abandoned the vote entirely.
President Obama had already threatened to veto the bill, saying it infringes on the rights of the executive branch. President Obama has already effectively banned torture with an executive order, and he reportedly objected to the bill on a number of other grounds.
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