The U.S. Senate has defied a veto threat from President Bush and approved legislation that would prohibit intelligence agencies from using extreme interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. The measure was included in a bill to authorize intelligence programs and spending for the current budget year.
美国国会参议院不顾布什总统的否决威胁，通过法案禁止美国情报部门动用包括水刑在内的极端审讯手段。这一规定包含在一项有关情报收集授权项目以及目前财政年度的法案中。
Two months after the House of Representatives approved the bill, the Senate followed suit - voting 51 to 45.
在众议院通过有关法案两个月后，参议院也以51票对45票通过了这项法案。
Supporters praised the provision that would bar intelligence agencies from using interrogation techniques not authorized by the U.S. Army Field Manual, which include waterboarding - a procedure that induces the feeling of drowning, and other coercive measures.
支持者赞扬法案中有关禁止情报部门动用美国陆军战地指导手册规定许可范围之外的审讯手段，这些手段包括水刑以及其他一些胁迫性做法。水刑是一种让受刑人感到如同在水中窒息的手段。
Supporters argued that such techniques amount to torture, and banning their use would help restore America's moral standing in the world in the aftermath of reports of abuse of detainees at the hands of U.S. interrogators.
支持禁止这种做法的人表示，这类审讯手段等于是酷刑，禁止动用这些审讯手段有助于恢复美国在国际上因审讯人员虐待在押者的报导而受损的道德声望。
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, sponsored the provision. "It signals to me that change is really in the air, that for the first time in the Senate and the House have essentially said that there will be a uniform standard of interrogation of detainees all across the government. So torture is out," she said.
提出立法禁止极端性审讯手段的来自加利福尼亚州的民主党参议员范斯坦说：“我得到的信息是，人们要求变革，参议院和众议院头一次一致表示，美国政府各部门在对待在押者的时候要有一个统一的标准。因此，酷刑不能继续下去了。”
Senator Jay Rockerfeller, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said extreme interrogation techniques do not always work. "Coercive techniques can produce information that is fabricated and ultimately lead to flawed and misleading intelligence reports," he said.
来自西维吉尼亚州的民主党参议员洛克菲勒是参议院情报委员会主席。他说，极端性审讯手段并非总是奏效：“胁迫刑审讯手段可能产生一些编造的供词，从而导致有缺陷甚至是误导的情报报告。”
But Republican opponents said Congress should not be interfering with intelligence agencies' rules of interrogations, which they described as lawful and effective.
但是，反对禁止极端审讯手段的共和党人表示，国会不应当干涉情报部门的审讯规则。他们表示，美国情报部门的审讯规则是合法的、有效的。
"This is a bad bill, because what it would do, according to the Director of National Intelligence, is to shut down the most effective interrogation program that the CIA has to use to induce cooperation from those leaders of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations," said Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
参议院情报委员会的首席共和党议员、来自密苏里州的邦德参议员说：“这是一项坏法案，因为按照国家情报总监的说法，这样的法案会使一种最有效的审讯手段无法继续下去，而中央情报局必须动用这样的手段来诱导基地组织以及其他恐怖主义组织的首领人物提供合作。”
Still, a number of Republicans were reluctant to oppose the bill and cast a vote that could be interpreted as supporting torture - and they left it to President Bush to make good on his veto threat.
但是，尽管如此，一些共和党参议员还是不愿意投票反对这一法案，因为他们担心，投票反对会被解释成支持酷刑。因此，这些共和党参议员就把这法案留给了布什总统，让布什总统把他先前发出的否决威胁付诸实施。
The provision had not been part of the original intelligence authorization bill approved by the House and Senate. It was included during negotiations to reconcile differences in the two versions of the bill.
CIA Director Michael Hayden recently confirmed that waterboarding had been used on three terrorism suspects five years ago. Although the CIA banned the technique in 2006, the Bush administration has said interrogators might be able to use it again, but only if authorized by the president.
中央情报局局长海顿最近证实，5年前曾经对3名恐怖主义活动嫌疑人动用了水刑。尽管中央情报局在2006年取缔了这种审讯手段，但是布什行政当局表示，审讯人员可能会再次使用这种手段，条件是要总统授权批准。 |