OUTRAGEOUS – AT 7:33 P.M. ET:  Another example of Democratic arrogance, and Democratic insistence on pursuing a left-wing agenda, regardless of public opinion.  From The Hill:

House Republicans are charging Democrats with trying to sneak a provision into the intelligence authorization bill that would establish criminal punishment for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during interrogations.

Democrats inserted an 11-page addition into the bill late Wednesday night as the House Rules Committee considered the legislation.

The provision, previously not vetted in committee, applies to “any officer or employee of the intelligence community” who during interrogations engages in beatings, infliction of pain or forced sexual acts. The bill said the acts covered by the provision would include inducing hypothermia, conducting mock executions or “depriving the [detainee] of necessary food, water, sleep, or medical care.”

Outrageous.  None of this is necessary.  It's all covered by existing law.  There's a long list of prohibitions, some of which are hilarious, like playing on a prisoner's phobias.  As one congressman pointed out, that would prohibit an interrogator with suggesting that a prisoner could get a longer sentence unless he cooperates.

And who's behind this little gem?  No surprise:

Intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) added the language, originally offered by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), to his manager’s amendment, which makes several changes to the bill passed by committee.

McDermott is as far left as you can get without entering little-red-book territory.  He never met a democracy he liked.

The fact that this provision was snuck in without any committee hearings is contemptible.  It reminds us of the successful attempts by the Democratic left in the 1970s to gut the CIA.  This bill, if passed, will make interrogators so gun-shy that they may fail to do their jobs effectively.

The left is trying to get as many changes written into the law as quickly as possible, expecting major losses in November.  They will deserve those losses.

February 25, 2010