US: The White House has denied that vice-president Dick Cheney was expressing support for torture when he said that dunking terrorist suspects in water during interrogation was a "no-brainer".
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Mr Cheney was asked if "a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives." He replied, "Well, it's a no-brainer for me but for a while there I was criticised as being the vice-president for torture. We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in."
Human rights activists said that Mr Cheney was clearly endorsing "water-boarding", which involves strapping detainees to a board and simulating drowning.
The Bush administration has never confirmed or denied that water-boarding is among the interrogation techniques the CIA uses when questioning suspected terrorists.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Mr Cheney did not interpret the question, which he described as loosely worded, as referring to water-boarding.
"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. You think Dick Cheney's going to slip up on something like this? No, come on," he said.
Asked about Mr Cheney's comments after a White House meeting with Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, president George Bush said, "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." Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, was unimpressed and said the vice-president was clearly endorsing torture.
"What's really a no-brainer is that no US 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," he said.
Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said Mr Cheney's comments sent a dangerous signal to US adversaries about acceptable standards of treatment for detainees.
"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," he said.
Congress passed legislation last month putting limits on interrogation techniques that can be used on prisoners declared to be "unlawful enemy combatants".