Bush Vetoes Bill Banning Torture
Source: Alalam TV, 08-03-2008
WASHINGTON --President Bush said Saturday he had vetoed legislation on intelligence funding because of a provision aimed at cutting back harsh interrogation methods like waterboarding.
The bill calls for the CIA to question suspected terrorists under the rules of the US Army Field Manual, which forbids the controlled-drowning tactic and other methods widely seen as torture.
The White House has said earlier that President Bush will veto legislation that would have barred the CIA from using waterboarding - a technique that simulates drowning - and other harsh interrogation methods on supposed terror suspects.
"The bill would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror, the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives," deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday.
The bill would restrict the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation techniques listed in the Army field manual.
The legislation would bar the CIA from using waterboarding, sensory deprivation or other coercive methods to break a prisoner who refuses to answer questions.
Those practices were banned by the military in 2006, but the president wants the harsh interrogation methods to be a part of the CIA's toolbox.
"The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror -- the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
"So today, I vetoed it," said the US president.
The legislation cleared the US Congress by a margin shy of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome Bush's veto.
Rights groups have said that abuse and torture of detainees routinely take place at secret CIA detention facilities around the globe, and some US intelligence officials have questioned whether the program has been as productive as the White House insists.
The bill would limit the CIA and other intelligence agencies to the 19 interrogation techniques outlined in the military's manual. Waterboarding is not among them.
"The bill Congress sent me would not simply ban one particular interrogation method, as some have implied," said Bush, challenging the portrayal of the legislation as banning waterboarding.
"Instead, it would eliminate all the alternative procedures we've developed to question the world's most dangerous and violent terrorists. This would end an effective program that Congress authorized just over a year ago," he said.
Backers of the legislation, which cleared the House in December and won Senate approval last month, say the interrogation methods used by the military are sufficient.
"President Bush's veto will be one of the most shameful acts of his presidency," Sen. Edward Kennedy said in a statement Friday.
"Unless Congress overrides the veto, it will go down in history as a flagrant insult to the rule of law and a serious stain on the good name of America in the eyes of the world."
WASHINGTON --President Bush said Saturday he had vetoed legislation on intelligence funding because of a provision aimed at cutting back harsh interrogation methods like waterboarding.
The bill calls for the CIA to question suspected terrorists under the rules of the US Army Field Manual, which forbids the controlled-drowning tactic and other methods widely seen as torture.
The White House has said earlier that President Bush will veto legislation that would have barred the CIA from using waterboarding - a technique that simulates drowning - and other harsh interrogation methods on supposed terror suspects.
"The bill would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror, the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives," deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday.
The bill would restrict the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation techniques listed in the Army field manual.
The legislation would bar the CIA from using waterboarding, sensory deprivation or other coercive methods to break a prisoner who refuses to answer questions.
Those practices were banned by the military in 2006, but the president wants the harsh interrogation methods to be a part of the CIA's toolbox.
"The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror -- the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
"So today, I vetoed it," said the US president.
The legislation cleared the US Congress by a margin shy of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome Bush's veto.
Rights groups have said that abuse and torture of detainees routinely take place at secret CIA detention facilities around the globe, and some US intelligence officials have questioned whether the program has been as productive as the White House insists.
The bill would limit the CIA and other intelligence agencies to the 19 interrogation techniques outlined in the military's manual. Waterboarding is not among them.
"The bill Congress sent me would not simply ban one particular interrogation method, as some have implied," said Bush, challenging the portrayal of the legislation as banning waterboarding.
"Instead, it would eliminate all the alternative procedures we've developed to question the world's most dangerous and violent terrorists. This would end an effective program that Congress authorized just over a year ago," he said.
Backers of the legislation, which cleared the House in December and won Senate approval last month, say the interrogation methods used by the military are sufficient.
"President Bush's veto will be one of the most shameful acts of his presidency," Sen. Edward Kennedy said in a statement Friday.
"Unless Congress overrides the veto, it will go down in history as a flagrant insult to the rule of law and a serious stain on the good name of America in the eyes of the world."
- Related News
