Drafting Errors

The 'torture bill' recently crafted by 'dissident' Republicans and the White House -- or, to be precise, by the White House with minor input from a few slightly discomfitted Republicans -- has apparently been firmed-up over the weekend, in an effort to eliminate any remaining American values that escaped the first go-round. According to slightly-discomfitted Lindsey Graham, at least one of the modifications inserted to bring the bill into closer compliance with Soviet guidelines for prisoner treatment was just a wee mistake:

In one change, the original language said that a suspect had the right to "examine and respond to" all evidence used against him. Mr. Graham and his colleagues in resisting the White House, Senators John W. Warner of Virginia and John McCain of Arizona, had insisted that the provision was necessary to prevent so-called secret trials. The bill submitted late Monday dropped the word "examine" and left only "respond to," reviving complaints about secret trials, this time from Democrats.

[...]

Republicans and the White House explained the change to the provision about viewing evidence as, in Mr. Graham’s words, "literally just a drafting error," and said the word "examine" would be restored.