White House denies Cheney OK'd torture (who ya gonna believe?)

October 27, 2006

White House denies Cheney OK'd torture
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

(comments in parentheses by RantinRay; also added bold by RantinRay)

WASHINGTON - The White House said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney was not talking about a torture technique known as "water boarding" when he said dunking terrorism suspects in water during questioning was a "no-brainer." (Yeah, Right.)

Human rights groups complained that Cheney's comments amounted to an endorsement of water boarding, in which the victim believes he is about to drown.

President Bush, asked about Cheney's comments, said, "This country doesn't torture. We're not going to torture." He spoke at an Oval Office meeting Friday withNATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. (Yeah, Right. The shrub must not have seen the pictures and videos.)

Earlier, White House press secretary Tony Snow denied that Cheney had endorsed water boarding. (Sure, what else is new.)

"You know as a matter of common sense that the vice president of the United States is not going to be talking about water boarding. Never would, never does, never will," Snow said. "You think Dick Cheney's going to slip up on something like this? No, come on." (There's no such thing as a perfect anything, so of course he might slip up.)

In an interview Tuesday with WDAY of Fargo, N.D., Cheney was asked if "a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives."

The vice president replied, "Well, it's a no-brainer for me but for a while there I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in." (So he was paying attention, at least.)

Peppered with questions about the remarks, Snow said Cheney did not interpret the question as referring to water boarding and the vice president did not make any comments about water boarding. He said the question put to Cheney was loosely worded. (Surely they were just talking about dunking for apples.)

The administration has repeatedly refused to say which techniques they believe are permitted under the new law. Asked to define a dunk in water, Snow said, "It's a dunk in the water." (Nothing we do is torture.)

Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement, "What's really a no-brainer is that no U.S. official, much less a vice president, should champion torture. Vice President Cheney's advocacy of water boarding sets a new human rights low at a time when human rights is already scraping the bottom of the Bush administration barrel." (The current administration is disgraceful in this and many other areas.)

Human Rights Watch said Cheney's remarks were "the Bush administration's first clear endorsement" of water boarding. (We've already seen plenty of clarity on the use of dogs, electrodes, beatings, terrorizing, and torture postions.)