CNN :
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IN FAVOR
Arguing for his amendment, John McCain, R-Arizona, a former Navy pilot who spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, said “our troops are not served by ambiguity.”
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“We demanded intelligence without ever clearly telling our troops what was permitted and what was forbidden. And then, when things went wrong, we blamed them and we punished them. We have to do better than that,” he said.
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McCain said an officer in the 82nd Airborne Division, Capt. Ian Fishback, urged his office to push for clear guidelines for the treatment of prisoners after unsuccessfully attempting to get answers from his superiors for 17 months.
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“The image of the United States was very badly harmed by the pictures of prisoner abuse. We have to send a message to the world that we will not ever allow such kind of treatment to be repeated,” he said.
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McCain said Wednesday that intelligence is needed to fight terrorism, but “the intelligence we collect must be reliable and acquired humanely, under clear standards understood by all our fighting men and women.” Torturing prisoners not only yields unreliable answers, but also endangers captured U.S. troops and allows “the cruel actions of a few to darken the reputation of our country in the eyes of millions,” he said.
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“The enemy we fight has no respect for human life or human rights. They don't deserve our sympathy,” he said. “But this isn't about who they are. This is about who we are. These are the values that distinguish us from our enemies.”
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AGAINST
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, question[ed] Capt. Ian Fishback's account. Sessions called it “sort of odd” that Fishback refused to disclose the names of sergeants in his unit who reported similar conduct. Sessions said the McCain amendment was unnecessary, since those responsible for the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib “are being held to account.”
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White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President Bush would likely veto the defense spending bill if McCain's language were included, calling the amendment “unnecessary and duplicative.” McClellan said existing law already prohibits the mistreatment of prisoners in American custody, and the amendment “would limit the president's ability as commander-in-chief to effectively carry out the war on terrorism.”
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