Bush vetoes waterboarding bill
Bush vetoes waterboarding bill
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 56 minutes ago WASHINGTON -
Democrats and human rights advocates criticized President Bush's veto Saturday of a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated
drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.
Bush said such tactics have helped foil terrorist plots. His critics likened some methods to torture and said they sullied America's reputation around the world.
"This president had the chance to end the torture debate for good, yet he chose instead to leave the door open to use torture in the future," said Democratic Sen.
Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
She said Bush ignored the advice of 43 retired generals and admirals and 18 national security experts, including former secretaries of state and national security
advisers, who supported the bill.
"Torture is a black mark against the United States," she said.
The bill would have limited the CIA to 19 interrogation techniques that are used by the military and spelled out in the Army Field Manual. Bush said he vetoed the
measure because it is important for the CIA to have a separate and classified interrogation program for suspected terrorists who possess critical information about
possible plots against the United States.
Bush, who used his weekly radio address to announce the veto, said the program had helped stop plots against a Marine camp in Djibouti and the U.S. consulate in
Karachi, Pakistan, and plans to fly passenger planes into a Los Angeles tower or London's Heathrow Airport and city buildings.
"Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al-Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American
homeland," the president said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the nation's ability to lead the world depends on its morality, not military might. "We will begin to reassert that moral authority by
attempting to override the president's veto next week," said Pelosi, D-Calif.
Based on the margin of passage in each chamber, it may prove difficult for the Democratic-controlled Congress to turn back Bush's veto. It takes a two-thirds
majority, and the vote was 222-199 in the House and 51-45 in the Senate.
Bush said he did not veto the bill specifically over waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning. The Army banned the use of waterboarding or sensory
deprivation on uncooperative prisoners in 2006. The CIA, which also prohibited the practice in 2006, has acknowledged using waterboarding on three suspected
terrorists in 2003.
"My disagreement ... is not over any particular interrogation technique; for instance, it is not over waterboarding, which is not part of the current CIA program," Bush
said in his veto message to the House. The attorney general has deemed that program legal under domestic and international law, he said.
Still, waterboarding remains in the CIA's tool kit. The technique can be used, but it requires the consent of the attorney general and president on a case-by-case
basis. Bush wants to keep that option open.
"I cannot sign into law a bill that would prevent me, and future presidents, from authorizing the CIA to conduct a separate, lawful intelligence program, and from
taking all lawful actions necessary to protect Americans from attack," Bush said in a statement.
Democrats say the CIA should be restricted to the techniques in the Army Field Manual. They include the "good cop-bad cop" routine; making prisoners think they
are in another country's custody; and separating a prisoner from others for up to 30 days.
In addition to waterboarding, the field manual prohibits hooding prisoners or putting duct tape across their eyes; stripping prisoners naked; and forcing prisoners to
perform or mimic sexual acts. It also prohibits beating, burning or physically hurting prisoners in other ways; subjecting them to hypothermia or mock executions. It
does not allow food, water and medical treatment to be withheld. Dogs may not be used in any aspect of interrogation.
Waterboarding involves strapping a person down and pouring water over his cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It has been traced back
hundreds of years to the Spanish Inquisition and is condemned by nations around the world and human rights organizations as torture.
In a memo to CIA employees Saturday, CIA Director Michael Hayden said the Army Field Manual does not "exhaust the universe" of lawful interrogation
techniques. "There are methods in the CIA's program that have been briefed to our oversight committees, are fully consistent with the Geneva Convention and current
U.S. law and are most certainly not torture," Hayden wrote.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he had heard nothing to suggest that the CIA, through enhanced interrogation methods, had
obtained information to thwart a terrorist attack. "On the other hand, I do know that coercive interrogations can lead detainees to provide false information in order to
make the interrogation stop," said Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
There also are concerns that the use of waterboarding would undermine U.S. human rights efforts overseas and could place Americans at greater risk of being
tortured if they are captured abroad.
"The president's refusal to sign this crucial legislation into law will undermine counterterrorism efforts globally and delay efforts to rebuild U.S. credibility on human
rights," said Elisa Massimino, Washington director for Human Rights First.
Bush objected to two other provisions:
_a new independent inspector general for the government's intelligence agencies to improve coordination and information-sharing. Bush said the position was
unnecessary.
_Senate confirmation of the directors of the National Security Agency and National Reconnaissance Office. Bush said that could delay the directors' ability to take
over quickly and risk injecting politics into the selection process.
drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.
Bush said such tactics have helped foil terrorist plots. His critics likened some methods to torture and said they sullied America's reputation around the world.
"This president had the chance to end the torture debate for good, yet he chose instead to leave the door open to use torture in the future," said Democratic Sen.
Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
She said Bush ignored the advice of 43 retired generals and admirals and 18 national security experts, including former secretaries of state and national security
advisers, who supported the bill.
"Torture is a black mark against the United States," she said.
The bill would have limited the CIA to 19 interrogation techniques that are used by the military and spelled out in the Army Field Manual. Bush said he vetoed the
measure because it is important for the CIA to have a separate and classified interrogation program for suspected terrorists who possess critical information about
possible plots against the United States.
Bush, who used his weekly radio address to announce the veto, said the program had helped stop plots against a Marine camp in Djibouti and the U.S. consulate in
Karachi, Pakistan, and plans to fly passenger planes into a Los Angeles tower or London's Heathrow Airport and city buildings.
"Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al-Qaida and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American
homeland," the president said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the nation's ability to lead the world depends on its morality, not military might. "We will begin to reassert that moral authority by
attempting to override the president's veto next week," said Pelosi, D-Calif.
Based on the margin of passage in each chamber, it may prove difficult for the Democratic-controlled Congress to turn back Bush's veto. It takes a two-thirds
majority, and the vote was 222-199 in the House and 51-45 in the Senate.
Bush said he did not veto the bill specifically over waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning. The Army banned the use of waterboarding or sensory
deprivation on uncooperative prisoners in 2006. The CIA, which also prohibited the practice in 2006, has acknowledged using waterboarding on three suspected
terrorists in 2003.
"My disagreement ... is not over any particular interrogation technique; for instance, it is not over waterboarding, which is not part of the current CIA program," Bush
said in his veto message to the House. The attorney general has deemed that program legal under domestic and international law, he said.
Still, waterboarding remains in the CIA's tool kit. The technique can be used, but it requires the consent of the attorney general and president on a case-by-case
basis. Bush wants to keep that option open.
"I cannot sign into law a bill that would prevent me, and future presidents, from authorizing the CIA to conduct a separate, lawful intelligence program, and from
taking all lawful actions necessary to protect Americans from attack," Bush said in a statement.
Democrats say the CIA should be restricted to the techniques in the Army Field Manual. They include the "good cop-bad cop" routine; making prisoners think they
are in another country's custody; and separating a prisoner from others for up to 30 days.
In addition to waterboarding, the field manual prohibits hooding prisoners or putting duct tape across their eyes; stripping prisoners naked; and forcing prisoners to
perform or mimic sexual acts. It also prohibits beating, burning or physically hurting prisoners in other ways; subjecting them to hypothermia or mock executions. It
does not allow food, water and medical treatment to be withheld. Dogs may not be used in any aspect of interrogation.
Waterboarding involves strapping a person down and pouring water over his cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It has been traced back
hundreds of years to the Spanish Inquisition and is condemned by nations around the world and human rights organizations as torture.
In a memo to CIA employees Saturday, CIA Director Michael Hayden said the Army Field Manual does not "exhaust the universe" of lawful interrogation
techniques. "There are methods in the CIA's program that have been briefed to our oversight committees, are fully consistent with the Geneva Convention and current
U.S. law and are most certainly not torture," Hayden wrote.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he had heard nothing to suggest that the CIA, through enhanced interrogation methods, had
obtained information to thwart a terrorist attack. "On the other hand, I do know that coercive interrogations can lead detainees to provide false information in order to
make the interrogation stop," said Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
There also are concerns that the use of waterboarding would undermine U.S. human rights efforts overseas and could place Americans at greater risk of being
tortured if they are captured abroad.
"The president's refusal to sign this crucial legislation into law will undermine counterterrorism efforts globally and delay efforts to rebuild U.S. credibility on human
rights," said Elisa Massimino, Washington director for Human Rights First.
Bush objected to two other provisions:
_a new independent inspector general for the government's intelligence agencies to improve coordination and information-sharing. Bush said the position was
unnecessary.
_Senate confirmation of the directors of the National Security Agency and National Reconnaissance Office. Bush said that could delay the directors' ability to take
over quickly and risk injecting politics into the selection process.
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