WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt today applauded Senate approval of language in the Conference Report on the Intelligence Authorization bill for FY ‘08 that he and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY8) authored to address the use of waterboarding by the Bush Administration.

“The practice of waterboarding and other acts of torture not only violate our fundamental American values, but have been proven to be ineffective techniques of interrogation,” Delahunt said. “The Congress is now speaking with one voice in making it clear that the American people, acting through their representatives in Washington, will not tolerate the use of torture. I urge President Bush to sign this legislation into law.”

This language mirrors the American Anti-Torture Act, legislation introduced by Delahunt and Representative Jerry Nadler which extends the Army Field Manual standards to the intelligence community.  It ensures a single, uniform, baseline standard for all interrogations conducted by the U.S. intelligence community.

The Conference Report effectively outlaws waterboarding, a method of controlled drowning.

At a hearing this fall before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, expert interrogator Steve Kleinman, Col., US Air Force Reserve, testified that torture yields unreliable information and that the Army Field Manual provides sufficient guidance and leeway for effective interrogation.

Other military experts, including General David Petraeus, similarly have spoken against torture and in favor of the Army Field Manual’s standards of conduct.

This legislation will now go to President Bush for his signature or veto.

 

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