In a move that many expected but hoped would not happen, Bush has resolutely used his executive power in his few remaining months to veto a recently Congressionally-approved bill that would have prohibited waterboarding and other harsh CIA interrogation techniques.

Amnesty International has an action letter already drafted, if you wish to write to your local newspaper or senator protesting Bush's measure (but be sure to commend the Senate on theirs!): Click here to write an action letter.

You can also read the full New York Times article/review of the decision and its implications here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/washington/09policy.html?ref=washington

New news about legislation:
The House of Representatives failed to overturn Bush's veto of the bill which would ban the CIA from using "specialized interrogation procedures". These include waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and other harsh measures. A 225-188 vote wasn't the 2/3 needed to overturn the veto. White House press secretary Perino spun the decision nicely, appealing to the public fear of terrorism. According to Ms. Perino, an overturn

would have diminished the intelligence community's ability to protect our nation

The CIA has claimed to use waterboarding on only 3 people. If these procedures do in fact protect our nation, we must be using plenty of other equally inhumane methods.

A Yemeni man, Khaled al-Maqtari was reportedly held in CIA prisons known as 'black sites' for more than 2 years. He was arrested in 2004 in Falluja, Iraq on the suspicion of being an insurgent.

Although Bush banned "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of terrorist suspects in 2007, he has also admitted previously to the existence of black sites (in Eastern Europe) and the CIA has not remarked on the issue.

Amnesty International has apparently been in contact with al-Maqtari and the organization has noted the existence of flight records which may correspond with the dates he would have been transferred. Amnesty also reports his claims of torture while in the jail.

read about the torture on BBC news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7292974.stm

The BBC has published a brief Q&A about waterboarding on their news website. It is a concise overview of the Bush administration's policies and procedures. In response to the question of whether or not waterboarding is effective, BBC references the case of Al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubayda.

According to ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou, al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah "broke" within half a minute. Abu Zubaydah said later that he had made things up to satisfy his interrogators.

Interesting article on Slate about the Supreme Court's deliberation of the right to Habeas Corpus regarding a dual U.S.-Iraqi citizen and U.S.-Jordanian citizen held in US prisons in Iraq.

http://www.slate.com/id/2187385