The Associated Press is reporting that President Bush WILL veto a bill passed by both houses of Congress which would have outlawed waterboarding by the CIA.
From the AP report:
Bush has said the bill would harm the government's ability to prevent future attacks. "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.
More on this below the fold.
Still from the AP report:
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said in a statement, "President Bush's veto will be one of the most shameful acts of his presidency. 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." Kennedy also 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."
You know.....every time I think that we've finally hit bottom as a nation, Bush finds yet another way to lower the standard, drop the floor, make it just that much worse, or find a brand new way to fuck something up again.
Well, I thought you folks should have this little tidbit of news for the weekend.
Update:
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/...
Also, Fratto's remark that the bill would take away the CIA's program to detain and question key terrorist leaders is a red herring. It would NOT end the program, simply outlaw torture of those detained. What an azzhole Fratto is.