Bush blinks

Last week, the US Congress called the Presidents bluff by passing the McCain Amendment - a provision barring the torture or cruel or inhumane treatment of any prisoner under US control. President Bush had threatened to veto the military appropriations bill the amendment was a part of, on the grounds that it unduly restricted "the president's authority to protect Americans effectively from terrorist attack". Today, he backed down. The bill will be signed into law, and the amendment with it. It's a clear defeat for Bush and his cabal of torturers, especially given that the Republicans control both houses at the moment. And OTOH, I'm sure the White House has already had its lawyers devise a weasel around the law, which will allow them to continue doing exactly what they're doing, while technically escaping its provisions. It's a sad indictement of the Bush Administration that they regard human rights in this way: as barriers to be weaseled around with legal sophistry, rather than as rules whose spirit as well as letter must be respected...