White House to veto Senate ban on waterboarding

                      

WASHINGTON, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) — US President George W. Bush plans to veto legislation passed by the Senate to bar the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding, his spokeswoman said Thursday.

“The president will veto that bill,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

“The United States needs the ability to interrogate effectively, within the law, captured Al-Qaeda terrorists.”

The Democratic-led Senate voted 51-45 on Wednesday in favor of a bill calling for the Central Intelligence Agency to adopt the US Army Field Manual, which forbids waterboarding and other types of coercive interrogation methods.

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 authorization, he will be voting in favor of waterboarding.”