James Yee, Guantanamo, and John McCain

The Austin American Statesman has interviewed former army chaplain James Yee about the mistreatment he witnessed at Guantanamo. Here's an excerpt:

Yee says he was horrified to see "religion used as a weapon" against Guantánamo detainees — as prisoners told him of detainees being forced to bow down in the middle of a satanic circle in an interrogation room and profess that Satan was their god, not Allah. Detainees were mocked during prayer and taunted or teased sexually by American women while chained. At first, Yee thought it an act of compassion that Guantánamo detainees were allowed to keep a Quran in their cells. But the detainees begged Yee to have them taken away, he says, for American MPs took such delight in mishandling the books or breaking their bindings during random searches.

Then feel free to vote against Senator John McCain in November.

McCain claims that he'll close Guantanamo and even earned Yee's praise for adding an amendment to a military spending bill in 2005 that prohibited "'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment' in connection with terrorism suspects." But just as McCain spoke out against waterboarding before he voted for it, McCain undermined his vote against inhumane treatment of Guantanamo prisoners within a year. Robert Kuttner has the scoop on McCain's 2006 flip flop:

[A Supreme Court ruling in June] required legislation establishing due process for detainees. The administration responded with an over-the-top proposal that did not allow accused prisoners to see or challenge the evidence against them, suspended habeas corpus, and authorized what by any normal definition is torture disallowed by the Geneva Conventions.

At this last provision, McCain balked. He and his two Republican allies on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Lindsey Graham and John Warner, rose to defend the Geneva Conventions as protecting US prisoners and the American soul.

But then deep negotiations with the administration ensued. When the parties emerged, the compromise looked uncannily like the original administration bill. Nominally, we reaffirm the Geneva protections. But the bill explicitly authorizes the president to define what that means. A detainee's right to challenge his detention to an independent judge (habeas corpus) is still eliminated, as is the right of the accused to see evidence. And the CIA retains the ability to spirit people to third countries that don't even pretend to ban torture.

The bill passed the Senate Thursday on a mostly party-line vote. Supporting it were Senators Graham, Warner, and John McCain.

Hat tip to Blue Texan at Firedoglake for the Yee link.

Updated to include information about the 2005 amendment.