Latest Torture in the United States Stories
By Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed a $453.3 billion Pentagon funding bill, including $50 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and sent President George W. Bush legislation requiring the humane treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. The House of Representatives must take final action on the defense funding bill, which got caught up in a dispute over an amendment Republicans added to open a huge wildlife reserve in Alaska to oil drilling....
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives early on Monday passed final legislation to ban the torture of detainees and voted to advance the Pentagon $50 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed two separate defense bills, one for funding and one for defense policies, that contained identical measures initially opposed by President George W. Bush requiring the humane treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. The bills were sent to the Senate for final...
By Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives passed final legislation on Monday to ban the torture of detainees and voted to advance the Pentagon $50 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House passed two separate defense bills, one for funding and one for defense policies, that contained identical measures initially opposed by President George W. Bush requiring humane treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. But, in a concession to the White...
By Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives aimed to vote on Sunday or early on Monday on a bill that would ban torture of detainees in U.S. custody, but let evidence gleaned by coercion be used against prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The torture ban represents a congressional rebuke of President George W. Bush, who resisted the measure pushed by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain in response to a scandal over the abuse of detainees by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday he backed legislation to ban inhumane treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody, but decried what he saw as a diminishing commitment by some to do "what's necessary" to defend the country. In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" during a surprise visit to Iraq, Cheney said what constitutes cruel and inhumane treatment was, to some extent, "in the eye of the beholder." "It's important to remember that we are in a war...
By Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation banning torture of detainees in U.S. custody was sidetracked on Saturday when House of Representatives Republicans insisted on adding an unrelated amendment on campaign financing. But the requirement for humane treatment of prisoners -- pushed by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and reluctantly accepted by President George W. Bush -- also was likely to be included on a separate defense spending bill that Congress was poised to act...
By Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional negotiators worked out the final details on Friday of a bill that bans torture of detainees in U.S. custody, but also allows evidence obtained by coercion to be used against prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Human rights advocates said they scored a big win when President George W. Bush reluctantly accepted Sen. John McCain's amendment to require humane treatment of detainees. But they said that would be partly undermined by another...
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Europe's top human rights watchdog on Friday urged the United States to cooperate with its inquiry into allegations that the CIA abducted prisoners and held them at secret jails in Europe. A senior official at the 46-nation Council of Europe welcomed a decision by President George W. Bush to back legislation to ban inhumane treatment of prisoners held in U.S. custody. However, Rene van der Linden, head of the Strasbourg-based Council's Parliamentary...
By Adam Entous and Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Under bipartisan pressure after detainee abuse scandals, President George W. Bush reached agreement on Thursday with Sen. John McCain on legislation banning inhumane treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody. With McCain and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner at his side, Bush said the agreement would help "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international...
By Adam Entous and Vicki Allen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Under bipartisan pressure after detainee abuse scandals, President George W. Bush reached agreement on Thursday with Sen. John McCain on legislation banning inhumane treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody. With McCain and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner at his side, Bush said the agreement would help "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international...
