Press Release
Published on May 14, 2015
Washington, D.C.—Today Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced that he plans to introduce an amendment to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would reaffirm the United States’ prohibition of torture. Human Rights First’s Raha Wala has released the following statement:
“Sen. John McCain has been one of our nation’s most stalwart leaders against the use of torture. In the days after 9/11, the U.S. government abandoned our ideals and the rule of law by engaging in torture, allowing loophole lawyering to erode what we stand for as a nation. Today’s announcement is an historic step in the right direction to ensuring that this practice never again becomes official policy of the United States.”
Mark Fallon, a retired Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) agent and deputy commander of the Department of Defense task force that investigated al-Qaeda for trials before military commissions, added:
“As experienced interrogators know, not only does torture betray our values as Americans, it’s ineffective and counterproductive. Today’s announcement recognizes that fact and is an important step towards codifying humane and successfully-vetted interrogation techniques.”
