The details still aren't clear, but it appears that CIA interrogators can aggressively question terrorist suspects without running afoul of the Geneva Conventions.

Andrew McCarthy reports:

Early predictions that the President was getting rolled seem to have been greatly exaggerated. And the McCain bloc got its principles validated without disabling the CIA program, which they have always maintained was not their intention. (On that score, it should be noted here, for example, that during the December 2005 debate over the Detainee Treatment Act, Senator Graham took the lead among those who protested that the Supreme Court's disastrous Rasul v. Bush decision was allowing defense lawyers to undermine effective interrogation of detainees.)

"Grave breaches," the kinds of heinous abuses that should be prosecuted if they are visited on detainees during questioning or otherwise, will be spelled out in the war crimes act. The president, whose interpretation of treaty obligations is supreme in our system, will also issue orders outlining lesser forms of abuse that, while they will not result in prosecution, are to be avoided. Our interrogators will know what the rules are, and variations from them will be the subject of internal discipline. The check will be congressional oversight — al Qaeda will not be permitted to sue the CIA civilly for alleged abuses.

As to what is allowed and what isn't, we have this report from the Chicago Tribune:

The compromise spells out specific acts — such as murder, mutilation, intentional serious bodily injury and sexual assault — that are “grave breaches” of the Geneva Convention and could subject interrogators to prosecution. The White House says this provides “clear guidance to our men and women in uniform as to what puts them at risk for criminal prosecution.”

[Sen. John] McCain said he was satisfied.

“There is no doubt that the integrity and spirit of the Geneva Conventions have been preserved,” he said.

[Sen. Lindsey] Graham, who had joined McCain and Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., in forcing the White House to temper its original proposal, said he thought the compromise would prohibit simulated drowning, or “water-boarding” as a CIA interrogation technique.

But Graham didn’t rule out other aggressive techniques like sleep deprivation or playing loud music. He said the legislation would not spell out which “alternative interrogation techniques” are permitted and which are prohibited.

This seems like something that the American people can live with -- and I mean that literally. These aggressive interrogation techniques should allow us to get necessary information from terrorists that will hopefully keep America safe from terrorist attacks.