New York Times (10.25.05).

White House Seeks to Shield CIA From Detainee Rules: Report.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has proposed that CIA employees be exempted from a measure barring cruel and degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The proposal states that the legislation approved by the U.S. Senate shall not apply to counterterrorism operations abroad or to operations conducted by ``an element of the United States government'' other than the Defense Department, the newspaper reported, citing two unidentified sources.

The report said Vice President Dick Cheney, with CIA Director Porter Goss present, handed the proposal to Sen. John McCain last Thursday.

McCain rejected the proposed exemption at the meeting with Cheney, the newspaper said, citing a government source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A White House spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

McCain, an Arizona Republican who was tortured while a prisoner of war in Vietnam, led an effort in the Senate to establish the Army field manual as the standard for interrogations and bar cruel and degrading treatment of anyone in U.S. military custody.

Bucking a White House veto threat, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan amendment to establish rules for detainee interrogation and treatment.

A number of lawmakers who supported the amendment have said abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other U.S. military prisons have damaged the United States' international standing and risked retribution against U.S. soldiers who may be captured in the future.

The Bush administration said the measure would tie its hands as it fights terrorism and threatened to veto a $440 billion bill to fund the Pentagon if it contained the restrictions.