No suprise, really, but in today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing he "questioned" Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Ashcroft: I condemn torture. I think it ... it ...

Biden: So it's not justified then?

Ashcroft: I don't think it's productive, let alone justified.

Biden: Well, I don't either. And, by the way, there's a reason ... I'll conclude by saying there's a reason why we sign these treaties. To protect my son in the military, that's why we have these treaties. So when Americans are captured they ... are ... not ... tortured. That's the reason. Case anybody forgets it. That's the reason.

And your precious treaties have protected how many Americans?

Did your treaty protect Sgt. Donald Walters?

Did it protect any American aviators shot down during Gulf War I, who received their "welcome to Baghdad" beatings?

Did it protect John McCain and thousands of other American POWs during Vietnam?

Did it protect Americans from the Japanese during the Bataan Death March in WWII?

Did it protect the Americans and British who escaped from German POW camps as recounted in the movie "The Great Escape"?

As I've written before, we don't sign these treaties with the realistic expectation that our troops will be treated in accordance with them -- because it's seldom happened before. We sign these treaties because they reflect American values and beliefs regarding the intrinsic value of human life.

We should be outraged when our enemies violate these treaties -- but we shouldn't be surprised.