Waterboarding

President Barack Obama says the interrogation technique known as waterboarding constitutes torturing, disputing Republican presidential candidates who say they would reinstate the practice. Obama called waterboarding "torture" and said it was "contrary to America's traditions" during a news conference at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Republicans Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann said during a Republican debate on Saturday that they would reinstate the technique that former President George W. Bush authorized and Obama banned.

President Barack Obama says the interrogation technique known as waterboarding constitutes torturing, disputing Republican presidential candidates who say they would reinstate the practice. Obama called waterboarding "torture" and said it was "contrary to America's traditions" during a news conference at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Republicans Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann said during a Republican debate on Saturday that they would reinstate the technique that former President George W. Bush authorized and Obama banned.

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats pounced yesterday on Attorney General Michael Mukasey's refusal to declare waterboarding illegal, accusing him of potentially allowing the harsh interrogation tactic to be used in the future. Mukasey, in his third month at the helm of the Justice Department, said he would feel tortured if he were waterboarded. But he staunchly avoided debating whether waterboarding is legal during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Instead, he echoed the Bush administration's long-standing denial of identifying how Al Qaeda detainees have been questioned by CIA interrogators.

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is accusing the Obama administration of committing "strategic blunders" that have hampered U.S. efforts to combat terrorism. Bachmann concedes that President Barack Obama achieved a "tactical" success in bringing down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and in taking out some of his cohorts in drone attacks. But she tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that Obama "is allowing the ACLU to run the CIA," complaining that it was wrong to ban waterboarding.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said yesterday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks. "The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address taped for broadcast yesterday. "So today I vetoed it. " The bill provides guidelines for intelligence activities for the year and includes the interrogation requirement.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he has "no regrets" about the harsh interrogation policies the Bush administration pursued in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The often controversial Cheney also says "I don't know why" former President George W. Bush should feel betrayed by insider information he reveals in his new memoir. Asked in an NBC interview if he still embraces waterboarding, Cheney says, "I would strongly support using it again if circumstances arose where we had a high-value detainee and that was the only way we...

WASHINGTON - The House approved an intelligence bill yesterday that bans the CIA from using waterboarding, mock executions, and other harsh interrogation methods. The 222-199 vote sent the measure to the Senate, which must act before the bill can go to President Bush. The White House has threatened a veto. The bill, a House-Senate compromise to authorize intelligence operations in 2008, also blocks spending 70 percent of the intelligence budget until the House and Senate intelligence committees are briefed on Israel's Sept.

SAN JUAN - An Algerian prisoner at Guantanamo Bay has accused his guards of using a form of waterboarding on him, his lawyer said yesterday, marking the first allegation that the harsh interrogation technique was used at the US military base. A human rights commission of the Organization of American States said yesterday that it has asked the State Department to ensure that Djamel Ameziane is not mistreated and receives medical care. Officials at Guantanamo and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but they have said...

WASHINGTON - Protesters staged a waterboarding yesterday outside the Department of Justice, calling for a Senate committee to reject attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey because of his reluctance to define the interrogation tactic as torture. The demonstration came shortly before Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, said he would oppose Mukasey during a Senate Judiciary Committee vote set for today on whether the retired judge should be confirmed to lead the Justice Department.

WASHINGTON — A prominent physicians group is alleging that medical personnel were used to test and refine the effectiveness of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques for terror detainees in US custody under the guise of safeguarding their health. Physicians for Human Rights, a Cambridge, Mass., nonprofit organization, outlined the allegations stemming from a Bush-era interrogation program and called on the White House to investigate. Its report was based on a reexamination and new interpretation of records that had been...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he has "no regrets" about the harsh interrogation policies the Bush administration pursued in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The often controversial Cheney also says "I don't know why" former President George W. Bush should feel betrayed by insider information he reveals in his new memoir. Asked in an NBC interview if he still embraces waterboarding, Cheney says, "I would strongly support using it again if circumstances arose where we had a high-value detainee and that was the only way we could get him to talk.

WASHINGTON — Waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques were not a factor in tracking down Osama bin Laden, a leading Republican senator insisted yesterday. Senator John McCain, who spent five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, also rejected the argument that any form of torture is critical to US success in the fight against terrorism. The Arizona Republican said Michael Mukasey, the former attorney general, and others who back those tactics were wrong to claim that waterboarding Al Qaeda’s number three leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, provided information that led to bin...

WASHINGTON — A prominent physicians group is alleging that medical personnel were used to test and refine the effectiveness of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques for terror detainees in US custody under the guise of safeguarding their health. Physicians for Human Rights, a Cambridge, Mass., nonprofit organization, outlined the allegations stemming from a Bush-era interrogation program and called on the White House to investigate. Its report was based on a reexamination and new interpretation of records that had been previously released.

Some highlights of the newly declassified 2004 CIA documents, released yesterday, detailing the Bush administration’s interrogations of suspected terrorists: ? Interrogators told 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that “if anything else happens in the United States, ‘We’re going to kill your children,’ ’’ one veteran officer said in the report. ? An officer who said he had never been trained in interrogating repeatedly pinched the carotid artery of a detainee until the man started to pass out, then shook him awake.

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to prohibit the use of waterboarding and harsh interrogation techniques by ordering the CIA to follow military rules for questioning prisoners, according to two US officials familiar with drafts of the plans. The proposal Obama is considering would require all CIA interrogators to follow conduct outlined in the Army Field Manual, the officials said. The plans would also have the effect of shutting down secret "black site" prisons around the world where the CIA has questioned terror suspects.

SAN JUAN - An Algerian prisoner at Guantanamo Bay has accused his guards of using a form of waterboarding on him, his lawyer said yesterday, marking the first allegation that the harsh interrogation technique was used at the US military base. A human rights commission of the Organization of American States said yesterday that it has asked the State Department to ensure that Djamel Ameziane is not mistreated and receives medical care. Officials at Guantanamo and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but...

WASHINGTON - Former attorney general John Ashcroft yesterday disavowed the now-defunct legal reasoning used to justify harshly questioning terrorism suspects but defended White House officials who pressured him to approve terror surveillance programs while he was hospitalized four years ago. At the heart of an House Judiciary Committee hearing with Ashcroft was whether US interrogators acted legally in using harsh tactics, including waterboarding,...

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is accusing the Obama administration of committing "strategic blunders" that have hampered U.S. efforts to combat terrorism. Bachmann concedes that President Barack Obama achieved a "tactical" success in bringing down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and in taking out some of his cohorts in drone attacks. But she tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that Obama "is allowing the ACLU to run the CIA," complaining that it was wrong to ban waterboarding.

WASHINGTON - Former attorney general John Ashcroft yesterday disavowed the now-defunct legal reasoning used to justify harshly questioning terrorism suspects but defended White House officials who pressured him to approve terror surveillance programs while he was hospitalized four years ago. At the heart of an House Judiciary Committee hearing with Ashcroft was whether US interrogators acted legally in using harsh tactics, including waterboarding,...

WASHINGTON - President Bush said yesterday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks. "The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address taped for broadcast yesterday. "So today I vetoed it. " The bill provides guidelines for intelligence activities for the year and includes the interrogation requirement.