In another major dispute, House Democrats have opposed giving immunity to telephone companies for their role in terrorism surveillance that critics contend was illegal, holding up a major overhaul of a law on electronic spying. Democrats have also objected to the continued use of the prison at Guantanamo and the administration's plan to try some detainees before military commissions.
The debate over interrogation techniques flared up last month when the CIA confirmed that it had used waterboarding, which simulates drowning, and the White House insisted that it could be authorized again.
The measure to ban the technique was attached to a bill that sets spending priorities for the nation's intelligence agencies. It passed the House in December, 222-119, and the Senate last month, 51-45.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate and a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, voted against the bill. McCain has led past efforts to ban cruel treatment of prisoners. But he said at the time of the vote that, although he believes waterboarding was illegal under U.S. law, he did not want to hinder U.S. intelligence officers with restrictions designed for the military.
The Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, did not vote on the bill.
After Saturday's veto, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden sent a note to all agency employees supporting the president's decision to block the legislation. "The U.S. Army and CIA clearly have different missions, different capabilities and, therefore, different procedures," he wrote. He said the CIA's "program . . . has been a lawful and effective response to the national security demands that terrorism imposes." Hayden added that the CIA will continue "to work within the boundaries established by our nation's laws."
Bush in his weekly radio address Saturday said that tough questioning of terror captives has helped prevent several attacks, from a planned strike on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, to a plot to hijack a plane and fly it into Los Angeles' former Library Tower building, now called the U.S. Bank Tower.
He said that because the Army field manual is a public document and available to terrorists, even on the Internet, his administration thought it prudent to develop alternate techniques to glean information from prisoners.
"The fact that we have not been attacked over the past 6 1/2 years is not a matter of chance," the president said.
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richard.serrano@latimes.com
