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.
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Credits

Host:

Warren Olney