I am ashamed and disgusted at the growing evidence of torture practiced as a matter of course, and approved at the highest levels, in the course of waging war against terrorism, Afghanistan and Iraq.
But now, I am appalled and deeply troubled at the attempts by Vice President Cheney and the administration to render useless the anti-torture amendment introduced by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to the military appropriations bill and approved by the Senate on Oct. 5 by a 90-9 vote.
Such shameless and immoral behavior deserves to be rejected outright. I hesitate to suggest that it warrants impeachment, but such behavior by the vice president and president seems more and more to deserve such a rebuke.
I would never have thought that any American administration would even question, much less trample on, the humane provisions of the Geneva Conventions and other international agreements prohibiting torture.
We citizens and our members of Congress must oppose any compromise on, or "watering down" of, the McCain amendment.
Immediately after the tragic attack on the World Trade Center towers, the president and other members of his administration declared that the threat posed by these terrorists would not cause us to surrender our values and principles. How ironic that our own government has stooped so low as to imitate and adopt the most heinous practices of our adversaries.
Robert J. Hohl
South Bend