And we call the West civilised...?

The vote by the Senate (and the house of representatives earlier in the week) in America to allow what is tantamount to the torture of prisioners (all in the name of the war on 'terror') is startling. It perfectly highlights America's current disregard not only for human rights but also for international cooperation and treaties. The law allows the president to interpret the Geneva convention as he sees fit and then allow military comissions to torture prisoners for information. Now I'm no legal expert (and I'm sure Bush isn't either), but doesn't the Geneva convention explicitly say that torture is wrong?

Also, what is interesting is Bush's admission that this law simply ratifies a practice that the CIA were carrying out in secret anyway. How long is the UK government going to let America go along with out condeming it for the blatant human rights abuses and unilateral arrogance it is currently practicing? Quite a while, I should imagine.