Defending Torture and Secret CIA Prisons

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As Condoleeza Rice tours Europe, debate about torture continues in Washington. Republican John McCain got 90 votes in the Senate for a blanket ban on "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of prisoners. President Bush has threatened his first veto unless the CIA is exempt from that language. Our guest, Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist for The Weekly Standard magazine, has written that, "torture is a terrible and monstrous thing, as degrading and morally corrupting to those who practice it as any conceivable human activity." But, he also argues that torture is the "moral duty" of political leaders under two very specific circumstances. In Kiev, Ukraine today, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice clarified US policy on the treatment of prisoners in the war on terror. She said no US personnel may use cruel or degrading techniques of interrogation - inside or outside American borders. Previously, the Bush Administration has said the ban on inhumane treatment did not apply to Americans overseas. Glen Kessler, Diplomatic Correspondent for the Washington Post now in Brussels with Secretary Rice, joins us with the latest. Making News: Bush Countering War CriticsIn the second of three speeches designed to bolster support for the war in Iraq, President Bush said today that the cities of Mosul and Najaf are being transformed from bloody battlefields into examples of progress. Today he spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations. David Sanger is White House Correspondent for the New York Times. Reporter's Notebook: A Clemency Hearing for Tookie Williams Tomorrow in Sacramento, California-s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a clemency hearing for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, who-s been on death row for 25 years. Williams founded the Crips, a criminal gang that has terrorized Los Angeles and expanded to other cities, but he claims he-s turned his own life around and supporters say that makes him a role model who can persuade young people to reject a violent lifestyle. His legal appeals appear to have run out, but he still denies committing the four brutal murders he was convicted of in 1981. One of the groups calling for his death sentence to be commuted to life without possibility of patrol is the NAACP - but African Americans are by no means united in the appeal for clemency. Our guest, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, is a commentator in Los Angeles for New American Media.
As Condoleeza Rice tours Europe, debate about torture continues in Washington. Republican John McCain got 90 votes in the Senate for a blanket ban on "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of prisoners. President Bush has threatened his first veto unless the CIA is exempt from that language. Our guest, Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist for The Weekly Standard magazine, has written that, "torture is a terrible and monstrous thing, as degrading and morally corrupting to those who practice it as any conceivable human activity." But, he also argues that torture is the "moral duty" of political leaders under two very specific circumstances. In Kiev, Ukraine today, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice clarified US policy on the treatment of prisoners in the war on terror. She said no US personnel may use cruel or degrading techniques of interrogation - inside or outside American borders. Previously, the Bush Administration has said the ban on inhumane treatment did not apply to Americans overseas. Glen Kessler, Diplomatic Correspondent for the Washington Post now in Brussels with Secretary Rice, joins us with the latest.
  • Making News: Bush Countering War Critics
    In the second of three speeches designed to bolster support for the war in Iraq, President Bush said today that the cities of Mosul and Najaf are being transformed from bloody battlefields into examples of progress. Today he spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations. David Sanger is White House Correspondent for the New York Times.
  • Reporter's Notebook: A Clemency Hearing for Tookie Williams
    Tomorrow in Sacramento, California-s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a clemency hearing for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, who-s been on death row for 25 years. Williams founded the Crips, a criminal gang that has terrorized Los Angeles and expanded to other cities, but he claims he-s turned his own life around and supporters say that makes him a role model who can persuade young people to reject a violent lifestyle. His legal appeals appear to have run out, but he still denies committing the four brutal murders he was convicted of in 1981. One of the groups calling for his death sentence to be commuted to life without possibility of patrol is the NAACP - but African Americans are by no means united in the appeal for clemency. Our guest, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, is a commentator in Los Angeles for New American Media.

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Warren Olney