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March 8th,
2008 - Bush to Veto Waterboarding Bill News article by the Associated Press |
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Bush to Veto Waterboarding
Bill By Jennifer Loven Associated Press March 8, 2008 Washington - President Bush
is poised to veto legislation that would bar the CIA from using waterboarding
- a technique that simulates drowning - and other harsh interrogation methods
on terror suspects. The president planned to
talk about the veto in his Saturday radio address. Bush has said the bill would
harm the government's ability to prevent future attacks. Supporters of the
legislation argue that it preserves the United States' right to collect
critical intelligence while boosting the country's moral standing abroad. "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. 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, D-Mass., 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." He noted that the Army field
manual contends that harsh interrogation is a "poor technique that
yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts, and can
induce the source to say what he thinks the (interrogator) wants to
hear." Copyright © 2008 The
Associated Press. External link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hNORmRm4JahUoi8tBwl8CvvliqygD8V954481 |