布什总统否决酷刑的比尔

由 Kerry Sheridan在华盛顿

美国乔治· W.总统。 布什计划否决参议院通过的立法拒绝CIA使用苛刻的审讯方法包括waterboarding。

“总统将否决那个法案”，白宫女发言人Dana Perino说。

“美国需要能力在法律之内有效地询问，被抓住的阿尔凯达恐怖分子”。

“布什不倾向酷刑”

民主党被带领的参议院昨天投票了51-45倾向于比尔叫为中央情报局采取美国军队领域指南，禁止waterboarding和强制审讯方法的其他类型。

However, the vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a presidential veto. The House of Representatives passed similar legislation in December.

Democratic New York Senator Charles Schumer said that if Bush “vetoes intelligence authorisation, he will be voting in favour of waterboarding.”

Future techniques not ruled out

Asked by a reporter if President Bush, who leaves office in 2009, would be labelled as the first US president who favored torture, Ms Perino rejected the assertion and dismissed Senator Schumer’s argument as simplistic.

“Across the board people will see, over time, that this was a president who put in place tools to protect the country against terrorists,” Ms Perino said.

“The president does not favour torture. The president favours making sure we do all these programs within the law,” she said, adding that “all the interrogations that have taken place in this country have been done in a legal way”.

Ms Perino said the United States does not currently use waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique denounced by rights groups as torture, even though the CIA has admitted using the technique in the past.

She reiterated the administration’s assertion last week that it would not rule out the use of such techniques in the future.

“Currently under the law it is not (allowed),” she said.

“As we said last week as well, we are not going to talk about what may or may not be lawful in the future.”

Manual too weak

The Senate 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.

Ms Perino said the intelligence community’s view is that the Army Field Manual sets an inappropriate standard for seasoned CIA interrogators who are working to extract information from sophisticated militant operatives.

“Today with this Bill that they are sending to us they would basically repeal the terrorist interrogation program in favor of something that will definitely weaken our ability to protect the country,” Ms Perino said.

McCain votes against Bill

Rival Democratic White House hopefuls Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were on the road campaigning and did not take part in the vote Wednesday.

The likely Republican nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, voted against the Bill. The former prisoner of war however said that his vote was consistent with his anti-torture stance.

“We always supported allowing the CIA to use extra measures,” he said.

“I believe waterboarding is illegal and should be banned,” Senator McCain said.

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