[saymaListserv] Torture deal??

[Quakerkristi at aol.com]

Just in -

John Calvi
calvij at sover.net
802/387-4789
PO Box 301
Putney VT 05346 USA
www.johncalvi.com
www.quit-torture-now.org


From: Institute for Public Accuracy [mailto:dcinstitute at igc.org]
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 9:37 AM
To: Institute for Public Accuracy
Subject: Torture Deal

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa at accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

    Friday, September 22, 2006

    Torture Deal

NBC is reporting: "The rift among Republicans over the treatment of
terrorism detainees appears to have closed, with maverick GOP Sen. John
McCain telling NBC News on Friday that a deal reached with President
Bush will lead to fair trials and interrogations but not torture."

But based on details of the plans thus far made public, the following
legal experts, who are available for interviews, offered these analyses:

CHRISTOPHER H. PYLE, cpyle at mtholyoke.edu,
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/misc/profile/names/cpyle.shtml
    Professor Pyle is co-author of the book "The President, Congress,
and the Constitution" and author of the book "Military Surveillance of
Civilian Politics." He said today: "The compromise pretends to save the
Geneva Conventions from repeal, but repeals much of the law enforcing
them. It does not expressly forbid a single brutal practice, including
mock executions by near-drowning, but it does retroactively absolve
administration officials of legal responsibility for past war crimes. It

denies the innocent victims of kidnapping and detention, like Maher
Arar, any right to challenge their captivity in court. And it permits
the use of evidence obtained by torture in military tribunals by
camouflaging it as hearsay testimony." Pyle is a professor of politics
at Mount Holyoke College specializing in Constitutional law and civil
liberties.