CORRECTED: Have we made our position very clear?

CORRECTED: Click “more” to see the text of the Amendment.

Fake interview with the White House:

Stump Lane: So where we at on the treatment of detainees?

Scott McClellan: [Whining] For goodness’ sake would you stop it with the torture?!

SL: Actually, I didn’t intend to limit it only to torture but also inhumane or—

McClellan: Let me express my irritation with your inane line of questioning by switching from whining to scolding:

[T]he president has “made our position very clear: We do not condone torture, nor would he ever authorize the use of torture.“

SL: What about clandestine counterterrorism operations overseas by agencies other than the Pentagon? Will they even be affected by Senator McCain’s amendment that would “establish the Army Field Manual as the uniform standard for the interrogation of Department of Defense detainees” and “prohibit cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in the detention of the U.S. government”?

McClellan: Mr. Vice President?

Dick Cheney:

[I] and CIA Director Porter Goss [have] suggested language that would exclude clandestine counterterrorism operations overseas by agencies other than the Pentagon “if the president determines that such operations are vital to the protection of the United States or its citizens from terrorist attack.”

SL: But hasn’t the president made it clear that we do not condone torture, nor would he ever authorize the use of torture? I mean, Scott just said…

Cheney: Of course.

SL: So doesn’t that make the language you suggest moot? If these agencies fall outside the scope of the Pentagon, don’t they also fall outside the scope of Senator McCain’s amendment already? Is your proposed language even necessary?

Cheney: Of course.

SL: OK. Well, that settles that. Thank you, White House, for shedding so much light on this very important issue, and thank you readers for reading.

Associated Press: Negotiators on Torture Bill Feeling Heat

US Senator John McCain: McCain Statement on Detainee Amendments

So the first section of the amendment pertains to Department of Defense detainees and requires that the DOD follow Army regulations in interrogation them. The second section, prohibiting cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of detainees, apparently pertains to the entire U.S. government. Here is the text of the amendment:

McCain Amendment in the final version of the FY 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill

SEC. __. UNIFORM STANDARDS FOR THE INTERROGATION OF PERSONS UNDER THE DETENTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

• (a) IN GENERAL.–No person in the custody or under the effective control of the Department of Defense or under detention in a Department of Defense facility shall be subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation not authorized by and listed in the United States Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation.
• (b) APPLICABILITY.–Subsection (a) shall not apply to with respect to any person in the custody or under the effective control of the Department of Defense pursuant to a criminal law or immigration law of the United States.
• (c) CONSTRUCTION.–Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the rights under the United States Constitution of any person in the custody or under the physical jurisdiction of the United States.

SEC. __. PROHIBITION ON CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT OF PERSONS UNDER CUSTODY OR CONTROL OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

• (a) IN GENERAL.–No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
• (b) CONSTRUCTION.–Nothing in this section shall be construed to impose any geographical limitation on the applicability of the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under this section.
• (c) LIMITATION OF SUPERSEDER.–The provisions of this section shall not be superseded, except by a provision of law enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act which specifically repeals, modifies, or supersedes the provisions of this section.
• (d) CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT DEFINED.–In this section, the term ”cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” means the cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as defined in the United States Reservations, Declarations and Understandings to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment done at New York, December 10, 1984.

Physicians for Human Rights: Text of McCain Amendment