The following Republican members of the House of Representatives voted against the Torture-“Terrorist” Tribunal bill (HR 6166) today.
Ron Paul, Roscoe Bartlett, Wayne Gilchrest, Walter Jones, Steven LaTourette, James Leach, Jerry Moran.
These folks deserve hearty applause for their courage in rebuffing the surge of authoritarian sentiments now sweeping the Grand Old Party.
The final vote was 253-168, with 12 members not bothering to vote.
A vote for the bill was a vote for torture, plain and simple. Congressmen can hem and haw and pretend that they are only authorizing Bush to make decisions on what methods of interrogation will be used. But everyone who has been paying half-attention knows that the US govt. has been torturing people since 9/11. And now the House of Representatives has sprinkled its holy water over American barbarity.
This Torture/Tribunal bill looks to me to be far more dangerous for both Americans and for the world than is the Patriot Act. [Comments / grousing/ etc. welcome here at my blog]