McCain on torture

I've always been a bit surprised by John McCain's stance on torture, given his personal history. Now comes this:

When asked at a press junket about whether we (as Americans) should endorse torture for terrorism detainees or whether we "stand for something better", John McCain had this to say:

I’ve made it very clear, I’ve made it very clear in my statements and in my support of the Detainee Treatment Act, the Geneva Conventions, etc., that there may be some additional techniques to be used, but none of those would violate the Geneva Conventions, the Detainee Treatment Act...And we cannot ever, in my view, torture any American, that includes waterboarding.

Well... it's quite comforting to know that John McCain is against the torture of American citizens. As for the rest of the world, I guess you're in the maybe column and we'll just inform you on a need-to-know basis.

We could always convene another panel of "The Principals" - Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet, John Ashcroft and then NSA director Condoleza Rice - to decide who it is okay to torture and who it isn't. They met several times during the early days of the war on terror to discuss how terror suspects should be tortured with the approval of George W. Bush. At the time John Ascroft noted that "History will not judge this kindly". Hopefully by the time this is all over, this group of individuals will be tried for war crimes along with the Accessory in Chief. Sadly, they will most likely not see their day in court... (not in the same sense as the terror suspects being held at Gitmo, mind you)

That's good news for John McCain, though - he's already got a panel of experts ready to decide who (and how) it's okay to torture! What luck! I'm sure they'll do a heckuva job...