My understanding is not that Cheney lobbied for torture, but that he lobbied Congress against the wording in the bill that contained 'cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.' When he thought that he would not win in that, he switched to asking for an exception for the CIA in cases where a detainee may have knowledge of an imminent attack. That does NOT support torture (although truthfully I have my own personal opinions on whether or not Cheney supports torture and gave Rumsfield permission to allow the CIA to perform it). I have my own problems with the terminology while I do NOT condone torture. The word 'degrading' should not be in there or it should be clarified. Degrading is too subjective of a term and any person from any country could state that any treatment is degrading to him/her based on his/her religious beliefs or culture. In essence, it allows for better treatment of terrorist suspects and detainees than it does those under investigation in our own court of law.


>President Bush's number one representative, Vice President Cheney, lobbied congress to legalize torture. This would never have happened if President Bush did not strongly support it. After all, Vice President Cheney even supported President Bush's stance on a constitutional amendment baning gay marriage, even though one of his own children might be hurt by such legislation.
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>It is likely that Vice President Cheney was attempting to have congress legalize torture that had already illegally been administered, thus getting the Bush Administration and those who carried out the orders to torture, off the hook.
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>I was grateful that Vice President Cheney's attempts regarding legalization of torture failed.
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>Regards,
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>LelandJ