Cheney plays down water interrogation comments

WASHINGTON - US Vice President Dick Cheney said today he was not referring to "water boarding" or any interrogation technique in a radio interview, after critics accused him of endorsing simulated drowning by agreeing that a "dunk in water" for terrorism suspects might be useful.

His wife Lynne and President George W. Bush defended his comments to the radio station after human rights groups criticised him as approving "water boarding," a technique the groups consider torture.

The vice president was asked on Tuesday by a conservative radio host from Fargo, North Dakota: "Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?"

"Well, it's a no-brainer for me," replied Cheney as part of a campaign by Republicans to keep national security on the minds of voters ahead of November 7 congressional elections.

Returning from a day trip to Missouri and South Carolina today, Cheney told reporters on board his plane no one used the term "water boarding" in the radio interview and he had not been discussing any specific technique.

"I don't talk about techniques. I wouldn't. I have said that the interrogation programme for a select number of detainees is very important. It has been, I think, one of the most valuable intelligence programmes that we have," Cheney said. "I believe it has allowed us to prevent terrorist attacks against the United States. I did not talk about specific techniques and won't."

He added: "I didn't say anything about water boarding, those were all his (radio host) comments. He didn't even use that phrase."

Earlier, his wife Lynne Cheney leaped to his defence. "This is complete distortion. He didn't say anything of the kind," she told CNN's The Situation Room when asked if Cheney was endorsing "water boarding".

"This country doesn't torture. We're not going to torture. We will interrogate people we pick up off the battlefield to determine whether or not they've got information that will be helpful to protect the country," Bush told reporters.

Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said Cheney's comments could backfire on Americans. "If Iran or Syria detained an American, Cheney is saying that it would be perfectly fine for them to hold that American's head under water until he nearly drowns, if that's what they think they need to do to save Iranian or Syrian lives."

US interrogation techniques came under scrutiny after evidence emerged of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, and after the revelation last year that the CIA ran secret prisons outside the United States for terrorism suspects.

White House spokesman Tony Snow insisted that US officials do not talk publicly about interrogation techniques because they are classified.

"The vice president says he was talking in general terms about a questioning programme that is legal to save American lives and he was not referring to water boarding," Snow told reporters during the second of two briefings dominated by questions about Cheney's remarks.

"You can push all you want. He wasn't referring to water boarding and would not talk about techniques," Snow added.

The possibility of water boarding being used as a technique was a factor in a revolt by three senior Republican senators in September against a Bush proposal for a new law allowing tough CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects.

The White House has refused to describe what interrogation techniques will be allowed under the programme, although Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, has said he was confident water boarding and other such techniques would be banned under it.

But North Dakota Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan said Cheney's remarks showed that the legislation that was eventually approved was too vague.

"I think Vice President Cheney's remarks make it clear that what was passed by Congress is sufficiently nonspecific to allow the administration to interpret it however they wish," he told reporters.

- REUTERS