In December 2005, the Bush government agreed to outlaw the use of torture on prisoners detained under anti-terrorism law. The legislation was sponsored by Senator John McCain with a view to repairing the international image of the United States in the wake of the appalling human rights violations at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In pushing for the legislation, McCain argued vehemently that torture would most likely not make a diehard supporter of terror confess to the actual crime, who might instead furnish the US authorities with false information that could prove detrimental to the war on terror.