Oh my gosh, good news out of the Senate!

Updated On a voice vote, the Senate today added an amendment to a defense spending bill

to make clear that the United States will not use torture against detainees. ...

The measure says the United States "shall not engage in torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment ... a standard that is embodied in the U.S. Constitution and in numerous international agreements which the United States has ratified."

The amendment also would require the secretary of defense to issue guidelines to ensure troops comply with the standards and report to Congress on any suspected violations.

The measure, apparently in response to recent releases of memos indicating that the WHS* were developing legal cases to justify torture, had bipartisan sponsorship.

Unfortunately, there is no companion provision in the House version, so it may disappear in conference, but still, standing as a rejection of the "logic" of those memoranda, it was a good thing to see.

Thanks to TalkLeft for the tip.

Footnote: In other actions indicating that even the GOPpers are getting fed up with Shrub, the Senate

voted 97-0 to extend use of two U.S. criminal statutes overseas, a measured aimed at better prosecuting companies that overcharge or use other fraudulent schemes to profit unduly from war contracts. Senators rejected 52-46 a measure that would have made war profiteering a new federal crime subject to up to 20 years in prison.

While that last vote was a loss by my lights, the margin was frankly considerably closer that I expected.

*WHS = White House Sociopaths

Update: Oh my, I have to take a lot of my surprise back. According to Billmon at the Whiskey Bar, quoting Wednesday's Washington Post,

[p]assage of the proposal by voice vote came after Republicans, facing defeat on the measure, agreed to raise no objections and offer no alternatives if the vote was taken by voice instead of putting all senators on record with a roll call, according to Democratic sources.

In other words, it passed by voice vote without objection because at least some Repuglicans, knowing they would lose, didn't want anyone to know they were actually against rejecting torture. Yuck.