Sen. John McCain, decrying new allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq by U.S. soldiers, on Sunday backed an amendment to force the American military to live up to its international obligations under the Geneva Convention and "not engage in torture" of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan.......
Fishback and the sergeants said prisoners taken during the siege of Fallouja were kicked and beaten, their bones broken and skin and eyes doused with chemical irritants. In addition, some prisoners were forced to form human pyramids, while others were made to hold heavy water jugs with their arms outstretched.......
In a lengthy chronology set down on his computer after he left Iraq in April 2004, Fishback said he tried unsuccessfully to get the Army to recognize it was skirting the Geneva Convention, which prohibits torture. He further complained that officers were not being properly trained how to handle prisoners.
But he said he was rebuffed by his chain of command, and after 17 months approached Human Rights Watch, which helped put him in touch with the Senate Armed Services Committee. In a Sept. 16 letter to McCain, Fishback outlined his concerns........
He said he and Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another committee member, were proposing an amendment to a defense bill requiring the military to abide by the Geneva dictates.
McCain noted too that he wanted prohibitions against torture underscored in the Army Field Manual, which he said "is the document that the Army goes by and the military goes by when in the process of interrogation and treatment of prisoners."
Told that the White House was opposed to such an amendment and that the president might veto the bill if the amendment were included, McCain said he was unsure whether there were enough votes in the Senate to override it.
"I hope," he said of the Bush administration, "that they will understand why we're trying to do this and why it's so important to America's image in the world."
