McCain Eyes Torture Rules Compromise

Senator: 'Making Progress' On Rules For Interrogating Terror Suspects

(AP)  Sen. John McCain said Monday that he is confident a compromise can be reached with the White House on proposed rules for interrogating terror suspects.

"We are certainly making progress and I'm hopeful we can get it completed soon," McCain said, while campaigning for Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.

McCain, a former prisoner of war, did not elaborate on how an agreement can be achieved on whether to allow highly controversial methods by the CIA, such as electric shock, forced nakedness and waterboarding, in which a subject is made to think he is drowning. The Bush administration says those techniques have foiled terror plots. Opponents say they verge on torture.

The full Senate was expected to take up the issue as early as this week.

Legal experts say that under international law, the provisions banning "humiliating and degrading treatment" and "outrages upon personal dignity" would likely bar the CIA's more aggressive tactics. Bush contends they are too vague. He wants a narrower interpretation that would permit the program to continue and shield CIA interrogators from lawsuits.

McCain, R-Ariz., as well as Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have said that would redefine the broader legal understanding of the Geneva Conventions in the international community.

Their Senate proposal is silent as to what types of CIA tactics might be permissible under the broader conception of Article 3.

In a speech at a local VFW Hall, McCain told the story of how he had been treated in Vietnam.

He said under pressure to abide by the Geneva Conventions, he and other prisoners eventually were housed together and were allowed to receive care packages. One of his buddies used some cloth from home to fashion an American flag, to which they pledged their allegiance every night, he said.

After the speech, McCain said the story was not meant as a political statement.

McCain also said Monday that he will not endorse his Senate colleague, Sen. Joe Lieberman, in his independent run for re-election. Some Republicans have announced their support of Lieberman, who is running an independent re-election campaign after losing last month's Democratic primary to Ned Lamont. Republican Alan Schlesinger is running far behind in the polls.