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Senators Support Interrogation Limits

The Senate defied the White House yesterday and voted to set new limits on interrogating detainees in Iraq and elsewhere, underscoring Congress`s growing concerns about reports of abuse of suspected terrorists and others in military custody.

Forty-six Republicans joined 43 Democrats and one independent in voting to define and limit interrogation techniques that U.S. troops may use against terrorism suspects, the latest sign that alarm over treatment of prisoners in the Middle East and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is widespread in both parties.

Last night, those 89 senators sided with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam who led the fight for the interrogation restrictions, warning about "...what we lose when by official policy or by official negligence we allow, confuse or encourage our soldiers...to forget that which is our greatest strength: that we are different and better than our enemies."