US: In a break with the White House, the Republican-controlled US Senate last night approved - by 90 votes to 9 - a measure which would set standards for the military's treatment of detainees. The overwhelming vote was a response to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq and other allegations that US soldiers had abused prisoners.
Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, himself a victim of torture while a prisoner during the Vietnam war, won approval for the measure, which would make interrogation techniques outlined in the "Army Field Manual" the standard for handling detainees in Defence Department custody and prohibit "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment of US-held prisoners.
The White House has threatened to veto the defence spending bill to which the measure was attached and Vice-President Dick Cheney has lobbied to defeat the detainee measure.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan objected that the measure would "limit the president's ability as commander-in-chief to effectively carry out the war on terrorism". But McCain struck an emotional chord with his colleagues as he recalled his more than five years in a POW camp.
"Our enemies didn't adhere to the Geneva Convention," he said, referring to the international agreement on the treatment of prisoners of war. "Many of my comrades were subjected to very cruel, very inhumane and degrading treatment, a few of them even unto death.
"But every every single one of us knew and took great strength from the belief that we were different from our enemies, that we were better than them, that we, if the roles were reversed, would not disgrace ourselves by committing or countenancing such mistreatment of them."
A move is expected to be made to have the provision dropped during House-Senate negotiations to reconcile differences on the spending bill.
All but nine of the Senate's 55 Republicans joined 43 Democrats and one independent in supporting the measure, the latest sign of how even some of President Bush's usually reliable Republican allies in Congress are challenging the administration more.
Mr McCain said the Abu Ghraib scandal and continuing allegations of abuse of prisoners were harming the image of the US in the world. He insisted that ambiguity on prisoner treatment could lead to mistreatment of captured US soldiers. "Confusion about the rules results in abuses in the field," he added.