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For Immediate Release
October 27, 2005 |
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Shays Leads Push for Inclusion
of Anti-Torture Provision in Defense Bill
Washington, D.C. – Representatives Christopher
Shays (CT) and Mike Castle (DE) today led a group of fifteen
Republicans in a request to include anti-torture provisions
in the final version of the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Appropriations
Act.
Shays and Castle, with Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (NY), Wayne
Gilchrest (MD), Vernon Ehlers (MI), Joe Schwarz (MI), Tom
Petri (WI), Jim Leach (IA), Jim Walsh (NY), Nancy Johnson
(CT), Rob Simmons (CT), Ron Paul (TX), Charlie Dent (PA),
Randy Kuhl (NY) and Jeb Bradley (NH), wrote to Defense Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman Bill Young (FL), urging him to retain
the Senate anti-torture provision, introduced by Senator John
McCain (AZ). The provision clarifies that no person may be
subject to torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment
– regardless of whether they are Americans, and regardless
of whether they are held outside the United States. The provision
would also mandate that all DOD personnel employ only those
interrogation techniques authorized by the Army Field Manual.
“President Bush has said that America will stand firm
on the non-negotiable demands of human dignity and will treat
all detainees humanely,” they wrote. “The anti-torture
provisions implement this pledge.”
“The use of torture during interrogation is not only
a gross deviation from what is right, but is also an ineffective
method of extracting intelligence,” said Shays. “Under
torture, prisoners may tell their interrogators what they
want to hear, even if it is not true. In addition, ill treatment
of prisoners in our custody endangers the safety of any U.S.
citizen or soldier who might be captured by a foreign enemy
now or in a future conflict.”
Shays and Representative Jane Harman (D-CA) introduced H.R.
3985, the Interrogation Procedures Act, to clarify that no
individual in U.S. custody, regardless of nationality or physical
location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment or punishment. This legislation is identical to
the Senate amendment the letter endorses.
Click Here to Read the Letter
Contact: Sarah Moore,
202/225-5541
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