Senate Votes to Ban Waterboarding

By:  Lindsey Brady
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America Desk

WASHINGTON D.C., United States - Yesterday the United States Senate passed a bill that would ban the use of waterboarding.  The House of Representatives had included similar language that prohibited waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques.  This intelligence bill comes a week after Michael Hayden, Director for the Central Intelligence Agency, acknowledged that waterboarding had been used against three suspected terrorists.  One terrorist was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who is believed to have been the mastermind behind the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.  Hayden later added, however, that it was unclear whether waterboarding was legal.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bush administration has insisted that waterboarding is a legal practice that can be used again "under certain circumstances" such as the presence of an imminent threat.  The Bush administration says it has not been used in the last five years and is not currently an approved interrogation technique for CIA agents.  Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary, said President Bush agrees with his advisers that the bill should be vetoed because "parts of the bill are inconsistent with the effective conduct of intelligence gathering."  The bill will limit the CIA to the 19 less aggressive interrogation techniques described in the U.S. Army's Field Manual.

The bill passed by a narrow 51-45 vote and did not meet the required 69 votes that would allow Senate to override Bush's veto.  Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain (R.-Ariz.) voted against the intelligence bill.  McCain issued a statement saying "the measure goes too far by applying military standards to intelligence agencies. He also said current laws already forbid waterboarding, and urges the administration to declare [waterboarding] illegal."  The law McCain refers to is the Detainee Treatment Act of 2006, which McCain co-sponsored, that bans military use of the interrogation technique.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) also voted against the bill because he believes some rare situations may call for its use and he wants the option for the President to approve its use.  Lieberman said, although waterboarding can be terrifying for the subject, there is no real danger and is only a psychological experience.  According to Newsday, Lieberman believes, "we have to allow the president to allow the toughest measures to be used when there is an imminent threat to our country."  Waterboarding has been prohibited by the Geneva Conventions and many countries label it torture.

For more information, please see:

Chicago Tribune - Senate OKs Bill Banning Waterboarding - 13 February 2008

Washington Post - Senate Passes Ban on Waterboarding, Other Techniques - 14 February 2008

Newsday - Lieberman Defends Vote Against Ban on CIA Waterboarding - 14 February 2008

The Guardian - US Official Admits Waterboarding Presently Illegal - 14 February 2008

Atlantic.com - McCain:  Against Torture, But - 14 February 2008