Bush signs executive order clarifying CIA use of torture.

President Bush has signed an Executive Order further clarifying what is acceptable use of torture by the CIA in its global war on terror.

In a nutshell, "[t]he Order requires that any CIA interrogation program that might go forward comply with all relevant federal statutes, including the prohibition on 'cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment' in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, the federal prohibition on torture, and the War Crimes Act, all of which protect against violations of Common Article 3. The Order imposes other explicit limitations on interrogation techniques and conditions of confinement in a CIA program."

Further, "the Order bars 'acts of violence serious enough to be considered comparable to murder, torture, mutilation, and cruel and inhuman treatment.' It also prohibits 'willful and outrageous acts of personal abuse done for the purpose of humiliating or degrading the individual in a manner so serious that any reasonable person, considering the circumstances, would deem the acts beyond the bounds of human decency.' And the Order forbids acts intended to denigrate detainees' religion, religious practices, or religious objects."

The Executive Order is a welcome act on the President's part and may go far enough to allay fears that the U. S. is in the "gutter" with terrorists when it comes to exhibiting traits of humanity that the terrorists obviously lack.