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The Commander in Chief must provide U.S. authorities with the practical tools and policies to fight a committed, well-resourced, and immoral terrorist threat. At the same time, the President must also defend the deepest and best values of our moral tradition. In the midst of that struggle, the voices of practical expediency have made their case to the White House. Now we must ask: Where are the voices of transcendent moral principle from the President's friends of faith?

Gary A. Haugen is CEO/President of International Justice Mission (IJM), a human rights agency that rescues victims of illegal detention, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression around the world.

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See also our area on prison abuse.

Senator McCain's statements from the Senate floor on the amendment are available on his website.

News elsewhere includes:

Anti-torture provision may face House GOP attack | Leading House Republicans signaled Friday that they will try to weaken a Senate effort to limit interrogation techniques that U.S. service members can use on terrorism suspects. (Associated Press, Oct 8, 2005)

Senate defies Bush with vote to stop torture of US prisoners | In a sharp bipartisan rebuff to President George Bush, Republican and Democratic senators alike defied intense White House pressure to insist on clear limits on interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists and other detainees in US military prisons. (The Independent, UK, October 07 2005)

Bush will veto anti-torture law after Senate revolt | The Bush administration pledged yesterday to veto legislation banning the torture of prisoners by US troops after an overwhelming and almost unprecedented revolt by loyalist congressmen. (The Telegraph, UK, October 07 2005)

Senate adds amendment banning torture to defense spending bill | The Senate delivered a stern rebuke to the Bush administration Wednesday night, adding language banning U.S. torture of military prisoners to a $440 billion military spending bill in defiance of a White House threat to veto the whole bill if the anti-torture language was attached. (Knight Ridder Newspapers, Oct. 05, 2005)

Senate bill sets stage for battle with Bush over a ban on torture | Congress may be heading for a showdown with President George W. Bush's administration if an anti-torture provision included in a $440 billion defense spending bill makes its way to the White House. (Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Oct11, 2005)

Previous CT article about the International Justice Mission and its work includes:

Weblog: International Justice Mission Gets Notice and Results | Dateline NBC, Forbes, and others show the undercover work of ministry that fights sexual slavery. (Jan. 27, 2004)

Good News for the Lost, Imprisoned, Abducted, and Enslaved | Lawyers and investigators at the International Justice Mission have learned that sharing the gospel means going into the heart of darkness. (Aug. 9, 1999)

Overseas Justice Ministry Launched | Mission workers are ill-equipped to make social justice a reality in their host countries, according to a study of more than 70 overseas ministries released by International Justice Mission (IJM) of Alexandria, Virginia. (Oct. 7, 1996)

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October (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49