The man who mockingly cried, “Please don’t kill me,” about a woman he was to send to her execution places the psyches of American GIs at risk.
March 9, 2008
Bush Uses Veto on C.I.A. Tactics to Affirm Legacy
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Saturday further cemented his legacy of fighting for strong executive powers, using his veto to shut down a Congressional effort to limit the Central Intelligence Agency’s latitude to subject terrorism suspects to harsh interrogation techniques.
Mr. Bush vetoed a bill that would have explicitly prohibited the agency from using interrogation methods like waterboarding, a technique in which restrained prisoners are threatened with drowning and that has been the subject of intense criticism at home and abroad. Many such techniques are prohibited by the military and law enforcement agencies.
Mr. Bush’s veto deepens his battle with increasingly assertive Democrats in Congress over issues at the heart of his legacy. As his presidency winds down, he has made it clear he does not intend to bend in this or other confrontations with Congress on issues from the war in Iraq to contempt charges against his chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten, and former counsel, Harriet E. Miers.
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President Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the use of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques considered torture by the CIA. The president claims such a prohibition will inhibit the collection of information. (CBS)
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