(SNN Washington) The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to approve an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill that would prohibit the U.S. military from torturing detainees.

The Senate is more interested in consistent verbiage than human pain and suffering.

Sadly, anti-torture Senators were forced to sell the amendment to their fellows as a call to clarify the rules. Showing once again that the Senate is more interested in consistent verbiage than human pain and suffering.

Senator John McCain of Arizona sponsored the amendment. Senator McCain read a letter written by an Army Captain who repeatedly tried to get answers from his chain of command on what standards apply to the treatment of detainees. This bill is very close to his heart, as McCain survived years of torture during the Vietnam War.

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska is a big fan of torture.

But there was some opposition to the amendment. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska is a big fan of torture. Stevens said that "If this amendment passes, the United States will not have effective control of those people." Stevens then split open the ball sack of one of his aids and threw him from the visitor's gallery to show how humane detainee treatment could be.

While some Democrats saw the vote as a rebuff of the president's conduct of the war, Republicans say that they are merely separating themselves from the President in preparation for the next election.

There is a silver lining to this situation. All the recent torture incidents in the military have taken attention away from the CIA, where things are business as usual.

posted by NewsBlog 5000  # Friday, October 07, 2005