Cheney opposes anti-prisoner-abuse bill

July 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is reportedly helping the Bush administration block a bill prohibiting cruel treatment of military prisoners.

Cheney has been lobbying against the legislation that would bar the U.S. military from engaging in "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of detainees, from hiding prisoners from the Red Cross, and from using interrogation methods not authorized by a new Army field manual, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Cheney met this week with three senior Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, reportedly telling them the legislation would interfere with the president's ability to protect the United States from terrorism.

Some GOP senators have publicly expressed frustration about what they consider the administration's failure to hold any senior military officials responsible for detainee abuse in Iraq or at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Post said.