The House on Thursday approved an intelligence bill that bans the CIA from using waterboarding, mock executions and other harsh interrogation methods.I don't know enough of the particulars of this bill to state whether or not I think it ought to be passed, but I am pleased to see Congress attempting to bring legal clarity to the issue of waterboarding and other tortures.
The 222-199 vote sent the measure to the Senate, which still must act before it can go to President Bush. The White House has threatened a veto.
One would hope that the President's veto threat is a response to other sections of the bill and not to restrictions of what tortures it can legally administer, but such seems not to be the case:
The administration particularly opposes restricting the CIA to interrogation methods approved by the military in 2006. That document prohibits forcing detainees to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner; placing hoods or sacks over detainees' heads or duct tape over their eyes; beating, shocking, or burning detainees; threatening them with military dogs; exposing them to extreme heat or cold; conducting mock executions; depriving them of food, water, or medical care; and waterboarding.