[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] on has rejected a proposal to create an independent commission patterned after the Sept. 11 Commission [official website] to investigate US treatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. With a 55-43 party-line vote, senators on Tuesday rejected the proposed amendment [PDF text] to S. 1042 [bill summary], the defense appropriations bill, put forth by Sen. Carl Levin [official website; floor remarks]. The commission envisioned by the amendment would have been charged with investigating whether torture was used at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] and other detention facilities used by the US in military operations following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Senate last week overwhelmingly approved a bill [JURIST report] that would bar degrading and inhuman treatment of detainees. AFP has more.