McCain Amendment

Torture doesn't work, in general. There are situations though where torture will work.

Personally, I don't like the systematic use of torture on detainees. I find it unlikely that this would produce any viable useful information. The use of torture also lowers the US ability to take a moral stand in many arenas.

But then, there is the issue with eliminating a tool that can, in limited circumstances, provide valuable information. The definition of what is disallowed is amazing.

d) Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Defined.--In this section, the term "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment'' means the cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as defined in the United States Reservations, Declarations and Understandings to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment done at New York, December 10, 1984.

By this definition, you couldn't use any means to gather information from detainees. This essentially gives the detainee the same protection of a citizen of the US. The definition is still sufficiently vague so as to allow hindsight reintepretations of actions that may be clearly justified in dangerous situation.

The usual vagueness of a political act makes this completely worthless. It doesn't provide protections to anyone but the detainee. It also ties the hands of anyone in the field who may need to use unpleasant means to obtain desperately needed information.

I also find this objectionable:

(a) IN GENERAL.--No person in the custody or under the effective control of the Department of Defense or under detention in a Department of Defense facility shall be subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation not authorized by and listed in the United States Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation.

Just how stupid is that? Codifying what isn't allowed and publishing it will ensure that the enemy will know that they have no worries when coming into custody by the military. Let's also remember that the people that we are presently fighting have no reason to provide our military any protections at all.