Reply #6: It's easy to make a 'deal' now that the Pentagon has revised the [View All]

Army manual with new, CLASSIFIED interrogation methods:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 - The Army has approved a new, classified set of interrogation methods that may complicate negotiations over legislation proposed by Senator John McCain to bar cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees in American custody, military officials said Tuesday.

The techniques are included in a 10-page classified addendum to a new Army field manual that was forwarded this week to Stephen A. Cambone, the under secretary of defense for intelligence policy, for final approval, they said.

The addendum provides dozens of examples and goes into exacting detail on what procedures may or may not be used, and in what circumstances. Army interrogators have never had a set of such specific guidelines that would help teach them how to walk right up to the line between legal and illegal interrogations.

Some military officials said the new guidelines could give the impression that the Army was pushing the limits on legal interrogation at the very moment when Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, is involved in intense three-way negotiations with the House and the Bush administration to prohibit the cruel treatment of prisoners.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/politics/14detain.html?hp&ex=1134536400&en=a7c8f18a1a4771c9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

I can only hope the media (forlorn as that hope may be) will ask about the manual changes in relation to this 'deal' the bush admin and McCain are touting.